Lynx: AI and ML to Combat Fraud and Financial Crime

On behalf of Forgepoint Capital, I’m proud to announce our $18 million (€17 million) Series A investment in Lynx with the participation of Banco Santander.  

When I first met Co-Founder and CTO Carlos Santa Cruz through our relationship with Banco Santander, we were immediately interested in Lynx’s capabilities given the magnitude and impact of money laundering and fraud in the financial services industry.  

In today’s business environment, AI and other new technologies bring both opportunities for innovation and evolving threats to financial institutions. Financial crimes and money laundering are becoming more complex and threaten personal and financial data, impacting customer trust. Financial services companies must target and deter fraud threats at scale in real time while delivering a secure and seamless user experience.  

Over the past 20 years, Lynx has built an impressive track record quietly working with leading global financial institutions to develop a best-in-class solution that detects and predicts behavioral patterns while delivering actionable risk scoring. The company’s origin is unique. Carlos, a computer scientist and AI expert, developed the solution while teaching at the Universidad Autonóma de Madrid. There he recruited and trained top PhD students interested in applying advanced technology in the global fight against fraud and financial crime. As a result, Lynx has a market-leading team of experts in AI, fraud prevention and anti-money laundering (AML) for financial services. 

Lynx’s Daily Adaptive Model, a self-learning anti-fraud engine, leverages AI to provide real-time 360-degree risk visibility with unparalleled fraud detection accuracy and a 15ms response time (3x faster than the industry standard). Alongside this technology, Lynx helps companies optimize compliance operations through its advanced case management capabilities and solution-embedded process automations. With clients across 9 countries in Europe and the Americas, Lynx now protects over 58 billion transactions and 300 million users each year, securing 1500+ transactions each second. 

I was fortunate to work closely with Carlos while Forgepoint and Banco Santander evaluated the company through our joint investment diligence process. His contributions were invaluable, and I found his technical sophistication in AI and financial services and Lynx’s technology remarkable. 

As a firm, Forgepoint Capital invests in exceptional startups in cybersecurity and digital infrastructure software that solve massive problems for global markets. We saw that Lynx clearly had the technology, product-market fit, and team to address fraud and money laundering at scale. Lynx had all the fundamentals- armed with an infusion of capital, the team just needed the right industry and go-to-market (GTM) expertise to further its global expansion and platform.  

During Lynx’s search for a top-quality CEO with global GTM experience I met Dan Dica, whose transformative leadership qualities and success scaling commercial software companies made him a natural fit. Today, Dan is leading global growth strategy as Lynx’s CEO.  

We are thrilled to partner with Lynx as they scale up and continue to advance their integrated fraud and AML platform. Their proven product-market fit for Tier 1 global banks and fintech companies, leading anti-fraud and AML capabilities, and world-class talent and leadership will propel them to succeed. We look forward to working with and supporting the Lynx team during their next phase of growth.