E-commerce has become one of the hottest sectors in the past year due to the pandemic. But more consumers shopping online means a greater risk in credit card fraud and other cyber attacks.
Forter, one of the leading startups tackling this massive issue, just announced that it raised a $300 million Series F to continue its work. The round was led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from familiar faces like Bessemer Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital, and caps off a year of massive growth for Forter — a sign of both the size of the issue and the company’s success in addressing it so far.
“With the unprecedented rate of digital transformation and the fierce competition in creating the slickest user experience, superior fraud prevention plays an ever more critical role in e-commerce revenue growth,” John Curtius, a partner at Tiger Global Management, said in a statement. “After we talked with dozens of customers of every relevant solution in this space, it was very clear to us that Forter is the leader in performance and scale.”
This news comes just six months after Forter hit a more than $1 billion valuation with its $125 million Series E, almost tripling its valuation to $3 billion. This makes Forter the most valuable privately held company in the history of the fraud prevention industry, according to the company.
Put simply, Forter wants to prevent fraud before it ever happen. Its fully automated software tracks a customer’s activity while they are on a given website, then uses machine learning and behavioral analytics to determine what a customer wants to buy. Then, at checkout, Forter decides whether or not to flag the transaction as potentially fraudulent. Major brands including Sephora, Instacart and Nordstrom use its technology.
Michael Reitblat, Forter’s co-founder and CEO, claims the company’s technology has “set a new standard” for trust in e-commerce.
“Forter’s platform brings together merchants, banks and payment providers to dramatically improve authorization rates, eliminate false declines and allow consumers to shop with greater convenience and enjoy a more personalized, secure experience,” Reitblat said in a statement. “This transforms fraud prevention into a growth and revenue enablement engine for the entire consortium of participating merchants, ensuring our customers can attract, convert and retain the best shoppers.”
And this technology seems to be in hot demand lately. Over the past 12 months, Forter has managed to double both its revenue and global network of merchants, exceeding $250 billion in annual online transactions while protecting more than a billion shoppers around the world. To keep up the momentum, the company will use this fresh funding to expand globally.
