Hawk extends Series B funding round, attracting investment from Rabobank

Hawk, a Germany-based regtech company specialising in AI-powered anti-financial crime solutions, has announced an extension of its Series B funding round. While the exact amount remains undisclosed, this extension has significantly increased the company’s valuation.

The funding round saw participation from Rabo Investments, along with existing investors such as BlackFin Capital Partners, Sands Capital, DN, Picus, and Coalition. The additional capital will be strategically used to fuel Hawk’s international growth and meet the rising demand for its AI-powered anti-financial crime solutions.

“We’re honoured that Rabobank has recognised the significance of our technology and joins us in building a global market-leading enterprise, while also benefiting first-hand from our solutions and experience,” said Tobias Schweiger, CEO of Hawk. “I would also like to gratefully thank our existing investors for their ongoing support and look forward to continuing our partnership.”

Martijn Scholtes, Managing Director at Rabo Investments, commented, “What impressed us most about Hawk is that they’re delivering compelling results using explainable AI. Their advanced screening, detection, and monitoring capabilities align very well with our mission to build a more secure and robust financial ecosystem.”

Hawk’s technology leverages explainable AI to enhance risk detection and reduce false positives, achieving a 3x to 5x increase in risk detection and a 70% average reduction in false positives. This funding will enable Hawk to further refine its AI solutions, enhancing its screening, detection, and monitoring capabilities across global markets.

The company aims to build a secure and robust financial ecosystem, as highlighted by endorsements from new and existing investors who praise the company’s impactful and secure technological advancements.

Hawk has also made strategic appointments, including Michael Shearer as Chief Solution Officer and Robin Lee as APAC General Manager, further strengthening its leadership team. The company has received accolades such as the XCelent Advanced Technology 2024 award and a spot on the 2024 FinTech Global Fincrime Tech 50 list.

Technology, partnerships, and solutions

Founded in 2018, Hawk has scaled globally, processing billions of transactions across 60 countries. The company collaborates with leading financial institutions and partners such as North American Bancard, Moss, Banco do Brasil Americas, Mambu, Visa, and LexisNexis. Forty percent of its revenues are derived from the US.

Hawk offers a comprehensive suite of AI-driven anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-financing of terrorism (CFT) technologies. Their solutions combine AML transaction monitoring, payment screening, and perpetual KYC (pKYC) in a single platform, with added fraud prevention capabilities.

This modular solution can enhance or replace traditional rules-based systems, providing financial institutions with greater accuracy and reduced noise. Hawk’s explainable AI approach allows financial institutions to reduce false positive rates and detect previously unseen and novel financial crimes, ensuring compliance with AML/CFT regulations—an essential factor in today’s financial ecosystem.

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