Regulatory scrutiny threatens FinTech growth: AMLYZE raise $1m to help comply

AMLYZE, a leading RegTech firm specializing in anti-financial crime solutions for FinTechs, neo-banks, and crypto businesses, has successfully concluded a $1 million pre-seed investment round. 

The round was led by Practica Capital, with participation from the Firstpick accelerator and venture capital fund. The funding will be used to scale AMLYZE's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business, facilitate international expansion, and introduce advanced functionalities to its core product offering. These enhancements will enable AMLYZE to provide a comprehensive suite of integrated compliance services to its clients.

With a current client base primarily located in the Baltic States and the United Kingdom, AMLYZE is experiencing a surge in demand for its transaction monitoring, risk assessment, and case investigation solutions. The global scale of financial crime, estimated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to account for 2% to 5% of the annual global GDP (€715 billion to €1.87 trillion), necessitates innovative solutions to combat these challenges. Furthermore, increasing regulatory scrutiny worldwide, driven by money laundering, terrorism financing, cyber security risks, and geopolitical tensions, has further emphasized the importance of anti-financial crime and sanctions compliance.

Gabrielius Bilkštys, CEO and co-founder of AMLYZE, stated: "As our mission is to help the world overcome financial crime, we have assembled a core team comprising seasoned IT and Anti-Financial Crime professionals, as well as former regulators and supervisors with backgrounds in central banking and law enforcement. We consider ourselves industry experts who possess an insider's perspective on the sector, enabling us to assist financial institutions in meeting escalating regulatory requirements and enhancing their compliance efficiency."

Practica Capital, one of the leading venture capital firms in the Baltics, expressed its support for AMLYZE's mission.

"Given the significant knowledge and experience that has been accumulated across all levels of the FinTech ecosystem in Lithuania over the last decade, it comes as no surprise that a company like this has emerged here. AMLYZE, bringing together an outstanding core team on a clear mission, has firm ground and the potential to bring category-defining products to the vast and growing market," commented Donatas Keras, Founding Partner of Practica Capital.

The pre-seed round also saw participation from the Lithuanian accelerator, FIRSTPICK, which has been an early supporter of AMLYZE since its inception.

Marijus Andrijauskas, partner of FIRSTPICK, said: "The surge in demand for AMLYZE's anti-financial crime solutions comes as no surprise given the increasing regulatory scrutiny worldwide, which threatens the growth of the FinTech industry. We, at FIRSTPICK, are proud to support AMLYZE's mission to combat financial crime and help FinTechs comply with increasing regulations. With their expert team and comprehensive suite of compliance services, AMLYZE is well-positioned to drive innovation in the industry and streamline compliance processes for their clients."

About AMLYZE:

AMLYZE is a Vilnius, Lithuania, based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider offering a suite of anti-financial crime solutions. Their comprehensive modules include real-time and retrospective transaction monitoring, customer risk assessment, and AML investigation. With a team of experts boasting extensive experience in anti-money laundering, financial fraud prevention, and financial market supervision, including notable figures such as Jekaterina Govina, former Head of the Financial Market Supervision Service at the Bank of Lithuania, Mindaugas Petrauskas, former supervisor of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Lithuania, and Eglė Kontautaitė, former Head of the Money Laundering Prevention Division at the Bank of Lithuania, AMLYZE delivers cutting-edge technology solutions that streamline AML/CFT and compliance processes to unprecedented levels of efficiency.

In recognition of their achievements, AMLYZE was honored with the "Enabler of the Year'' award at the recent Lithuanian FinTech Market Awards. Furthermore, AMLYZE was chosen by MasterCard, a global payment systems operator, as the sole representative of the Lithuanian startup ecosystem to participate in the prestigious LightHouse FINITIV FinTech program, alongside 15 other FinTech startups from Norway, Denmark, and Estonia.

For more information, visit AMLYZE website and LinkedIn page.

About Practica Capital:

Practica Capital is an early-stage VC dedicated to backing Baltic founders. The firm has been invested exclusively in tech potential in the Baltic States for the last 10 years. Practica Capital back great founders in their ambition in seed (selected pre-seed), Series A stages and partnering with them as company builders. Practica Capital manages four funds with more than €80m in AUM. To date the firm made over 50 investments, including great companies like PVcase, TransferGo, Interactio, Eneba, Ovoko, Trafi, CGtrader and others. 

For more information, visit Practica Capital website.

About Firstpick:

FIRSTPICK is a €20m acceleration and venture capital fund investing in tech companies across the Baltics. The core members of the team have gathered experience by working with 50 startups in their early steps. This year the fund already invested in 15 startups. FIRSTPICK helps founders by offering a bulletproof combination of investment and knowledge through pre-acceleration and acceleration programs. The initial ticket starts with 50-200K EUR. Fund also provides equity-free grants for idea stage startups.

For more information, visit FIRSTPICK website.