United Kingdom - StartupMafia - News from startup industry

GovTech

Making Illegal Things Legal: How Accelerate Estonia are bringing their magic to the UK

I spend as much of my work activity on intrapreneurship (entrepreneurship in large organisations) as helping pre-revenue start-ups. The process is identical in the...

Mike SouthonFebruary 6, 2026

London’s FALKIN raises €1.7M to fight scams before they happen As AI-driven scams surge across Europe, London-based digital safety startup FALKIN has raised €1.7 million ($2 million) in pre-seed funding to stop fraud before it starts. The round was led by TriplePoint Ventures, with backing from Notion Capital, BackFuture Ventures, Aviva/Founders Factory, Haatch, Found Capital, and Founders Capital. Individual investors include fintech veterans Pierre Decote, Group Chief Risk Officer at Revolut, and Ben Enckevort, CTO and co-founder of Metomic. Shifting protection from payments to persuasion “The new battlefield isn’t payments – it’s persuasion,” said Boaz Valkin, co-founder of FALKIN. “Protection has to move earlier, to the moment before someone clicks, replies, or transfers. We’re turning AI from a weapon of deception into a tool for defense.” Founded in 2024, FALKIN builds embedded AI tools that detect manipulation and deception before a transaction ever takes place. Instead of monitoring fraud after money moves, the company integrates real-time behavioral analysis directly into banking and customer-service apps, helping financial institutions prevent scams at the source. According to co-founder and COO Joel Frisch, “Modern scams are sophisticated, and no single red flag tells the whole story. The key is to analyze all the signals that reveal deception to build a complete picture. When we embed that intelligence inside the banking apps people already trust, protection becomes effortless.” A growing European battle against AI-enabled fraud FALKIN’s funding comes amid a broader wave of investment in anti-fraud innovation. Across Europe, startups like Hawk (Germany), Resistant AI (Czechia), and Acoru (Spain) have collectively raised over €80 million this year to tackle rising financial crime driven by AI. A recent EU-Startups report found that AI-related fraud losses in Europe have surpassed €1.3 billion, as deepfakes, voice cloning, and synthetic identity attacks become mainstream tools for scammers. “AI has blurred the line between what’s real and what’s fake, and traditional systems aren’t built for that reality,” said Sam Stone of TriplePoint Ventures. “FALKIN’s vision to make proactive safety universal has the potential to redefine digital trust.” The invisible enemy Scams now represent one of the fastest-growing financial threats worldwide. Deloitte projects that U.S. losses from authorized push payment fraud could hit €12.9 billion ($15 billion) by 2028, while the U.K. saw over seven million victims last year—most of whom never reported the crime. Despite heavy investment in fraud detection, most tools still activate after funds have left an account. FALKIN’s approach moves protection upstream, targeting the psychological manipulation that precedes scams. Early trials with bank innovation teams and tens of thousands of users across the U.S. and U.K. have shown promising results: 78% of users reported feeling safer online, and over half said prevention was more valuable than reimbursement. Next steps: embedding safety everywhere The fresh capital will accelerate hiring, product development, and financial-institution integrations, as well as support the launch of Safety Labs — a program helping community banks and credit unions deploy scam-prevention tools with minimal technical effort. FALKIN is also expanding its integration ecosystem, allowing financial institutions to embed digital safety layers across customer journeys and communication systems. “Scammers are using AI to scale deception,” Valkin said. “We’re using it to scale trust.”

FinTech

London’s FALKIN raises €1.7M to fight scams before they happen

London-based digital safety startup FALKIN has raised €1.7 million ($2 million) in pre-seed funding to stop scams before they start, as banks and consumers...

Gerald MillerNovember 11, 2025

Notion Capital expands focus on AI-driven software and FinTech

AdTech

Notion Capital Closes €114M Growth Fund to Double Down on AI and FinTech Scaleups

London-based VC firm Notion Capital has closed a new €114 million fund as it sharpens its focus on AI-driven software and FinTech startups across...

Gerald MillerSeptember 30, 2025

British crypto startup BOB raises €8.1 million to cement Bitcoin’s role in decentralised finance

Crypto / Blockchain / Web3

London-Based Startup BOB Raises €8.1M to Unlock Native Bitcoin in DeFi Without Wrapping or Custody

BOB’s hybrid Layer 2 chain aims to make Bitcoin truly interoperable in DeFi, backed by a total €18M in funding. British crypto infrastructure startup...

Gerald MillerAugust 7, 2025

Scotland’s Approov Mobile Security raises €5.7 million for their mobile app security platform

Cybersecurity

Approov Secures €5.7M to Tackle AI-Era Mobile App Threats

Edinburgh startup Approov Mobile Security has raised €5.7 million in Series A funding to scale its mobile app and API protection platform amid a...

Gerald MillerAugust 5, 2025

Gradient Labs raises over €11 million for its AI customer service agent

FinTech

Gradient Labs Secures €11M+ to Reinvent AI for Regulated Customer Service

London-based startup Gradient Labs has raised over €11 million in Series A funding to expand its AI-powered customer service platform tailored for regulated industries....

Gerald MillerJuly 8, 2025

James Codling, managing partner at Volution

FinTech

Volution Unveils $100M Fund to Supercharge UK Tech Scale-Ups

New capital targets late-stage growth for fintech, AI, and SaaS companies as funding bottlenecks threaten UK innovation pipeline. UK venture capital firm Volution has...

Alex NigmatulinApril 29, 2025

British drone startup Hammer Missions secures €1.6 million to expand to USA

AdTech

UK Drone Tech Startup Hammer Missions Raises €1.6M to Expand into U.S. Market

London-based AI firm Hammer Missions, known for its drone-powered inspection platform for the built environment, has raised €1.6 million in fresh funding to supercharge...

Alex NigmatulinApril 22, 2025

NexGen Cloud Raises €41M to Power Europe’s Sovereign AI Future

AdTech

NexGen Cloud Raises €41M to Power Europe’s Sovereign AI Future

London, UK – April 8, 2025 — NexGen Cloud, a fast-growing AI infrastructure startup, has secured €41 million in Series A funding to accelerate...

Alex NigmatulinApril 8, 2025

ClearScore secures €36.1 million to fuel next phase of growth and product offering

FinTech

ClearScore Secures €36.1M to Expand Global Reach and Product Innovation

London-based fintech leader The ClearScore Group has secured €36.1 million in debt financing from HSBC Innovation Banking UK to accelerate its growth and expand...

Alex NigmatulinFebruary 25, 2025

StartupMafia – News from startup industry

All posts tagged "United Kingdom"

GovTech

Making Illegal Things Legal: How Accelerate Estonia are bringing their magic to the UK

FinTech

London’s FALKIN raises €1.7M to fight scams before they happen

AdTech

Notion Capital Closes €114M Growth Fund to Double Down on AI and FinTech Scaleups

Crypto / Blockchain / Web3

London-Based Startup BOB Raises €8.1M to Unlock Native Bitcoin in DeFi Without Wrapping or Custody

Cybersecurity

Approov Secures €5.7M to Tackle AI-Era Mobile App Threats

FinTech

Gradient Labs Secures €11M+ to Reinvent AI for Regulated Customer Service

FinTech

Volution Unveils $100M Fund to Supercharge UK Tech Scale-Ups

AdTech

UK Drone Tech Startup Hammer Missions Raises €1.6M to Expand into U.S. Market

AdTech

NexGen Cloud Raises €41M to Power Europe’s Sovereign AI Future

FinTech

ClearScore Secures €36.1M to Expand Global Reach and Product Innovation

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HealthTech

The Top 5 Mental Health Startups in Germany

FinTech

Non-business style: businessmen and top managers with tattoos

AdTech

Eastern European Startup Uses Big Data To Automate PR

EdTech

The top 5 mental health startups in Europe