Cleafy secures 12 million euros for cyber defense in the banking sector

Berlin-based cybersecurity startup Cleafy has raised 12 million euros in a Series B financing round. The round was led by United Ventures from Italy and the German cybersecurity VC eCAPITAL. Cleafy intends to use the fresh capital to further expand its predictive technology to protect banks and financial institutions against cyber attacks and financial fraud.

Cleafy currently serves more than 150 financial institutions in Europe and Latin America and protects over 250 million users. Its customers include ING, the BCC Iccrea Group, Illimity Bank and BPS (Suisse).

Preventive approach instead of reactive security

In contrast to traditional security solutions, which often check isolated transactions using static rules, Cleafy takes a preventative approach. The company analyzes attack paths at an early stage and tries to detect threats before any damage is done.

While fraudsters are using AI to launch attacks on an industrial scale, many banks are still defending themselves with reactive tools. We reconstruct how an attack develops and block it before it can cause damage.

Matteo Bogana, CEO Cleafy

The technology integrates data from web, mobile, backend and network telemetry with global real-time threat analysis to detect attacker infrastructures and attack patterns at an early stage. The new Cleafy for Workforce solution extends protection to internal corporate systems to identify insider threats and compromised accounts.

Targeted expansion and regulatory relevance

Cleafy plans to use the fresh capital to further develop its platform technology, strengthen global threat analysis and drive expansion into key markets in the European and Latin American banking sector.

The financing round comes against the backdrop of tightening regulatory requirements such as DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) and NIS2, which mandate robust digital operational resilience in the financial sector. Fabio Pirovano, Partner at United Ventures, comments:"The more sophisticated fraud schemes become, the more important it is to anticipate attacks. Cleafy has built a unique technology that makes this possible."