Regtech firm Silent Eight bags $6.2m from Wavemaker, Standard Chartered, others

Singapore-based startup Silent Eight, which uses AI to help financial institutions manage their compliance and risk obligations, has raised US$6.2 million in a series A round led by existing investor Wavemaker Partners.

OTB Ventures, SC Ventures (Standard Chartered’s investment arm), and other existing investors also participated in the round.

Paul Santos, managing partner for Wavemaker Partners Southeast Asia, has also joined Silent Eight’s board.

Photo credit: aenri05

Silent Eight plans to use the fresh capital to make new hires for its offices in Singapore, Warsaw, London, and New York. It is planning to double its headcount by the end of Q1 2020, according to a statement.

The startup, founded in 2013, operates an AI-backed system that learns how to conduct investigations and can help weed out money laundering and terrorist financing. It works with banks and other financial institutions to optimize their screening operations and help them improve their due diligence process.

Citing a report from The Economist, Silent Eight said that financial firms have paid at least US$28.4 billion in fines for money laundering and sanctions violations since 2008.

In 2018, the company implemented its solution for Standard Chartered after a successful proof of concept. It also worked with the bank’s financial crime compliance team to apply machine learning and natural language processing techniques to optimize the bank’s name screening process.