Pindrop, a US-based phone fraud prevention technology developer, raised $75m yesterday in a series C round led by Google Capital, the growth equity arm of conglomerate Alphabet.
GV, which acts as GV’s corporate venturing unit, and Citi Ventures, the strategic investment arm of financial services firm Citigroup, also participated in the round alongside venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis Ventures and Institutional Venture Partners (IVP).
Founded in 2011, Pindrop offers technology called phoneprinting that provides voice authentication and helps prevent fraud, identify theft and social engineering.
The technology is aimed at services such as call centres and internet of things devices that function through voice commands. The company’s clients include banks, insurance companies, government agencies and retailers.
Following Alphabet’s investment, Pindrop hopes to use the conglomerate’s voice technology expertise to improve its product.
Pindrop closed a $35m series B round led by IVP that included Citi Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis, Redpoint Ventures and Webb Investment Network in February 2015.
Citi Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz previously co-led an $11m series A round in 2013 with participation from Redpoint, Felicis and Webb.
Gene Frantz, partner at Google Capital, said: “Voice fraud is a large, expensive and unsolved problem for many enterprises, and Pindrop is taking a truly unique approach, helping its customers save millions of dollars by preventing voice fraud.
“As voice commands become the standard across intelligent assistants, cars, and the internet of things, Pindrop is creating the leading authentication and security solution for this exploding market. We are excited to be an investor based on the company’s momentum, unique technology and large market opportunity.”