Behavioral Biometrics Company Valued at $1.5 Billion
Sardine, a fraud detection and compliance platform that uses behavioral biometrics to identify suspicious activity, has raised $175 million in Series C funding at a valuation of $1.5 billion. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Visa Ventures, Activant Capital, and Google Ventures.
Sardine’s technology analyzes how users interact with devices, including typing patterns, mouse movements, and touchscreen gestures, to create behavioral profiles that can distinguish legitimate users from fraudsters. The approach catches sophisticated fraud that evades traditional rule-based detection systems.
Technology and Market Fit
The company serves over 300 financial institutions, cryptocurrency exchanges, and e-commerce platforms, processing billions of transactions annually. Sardine reports that its behavioral biometrics engine reduces fraud losses by an average of 70 percent while simultaneously decreasing false positive rates that frustrate legitimate customers.
The technology is particularly effective against account takeover fraud, where criminals gain access to legitimate user accounts through stolen credentials. Because Sardine analyzes behavioral patterns rather than static credentials, compromised passwords alone are insufficient to bypass the system.
Growth Strategy and Expansion
The funding will support Sardine’s expansion into the European and Asian markets, where regulatory requirements for fraud prevention are becoming more stringent. The company also plans to launch new product lines focused on anti-money laundering compliance and sanctions screening, leveraging its behavioral analytics capabilities for broader financial crime prevention.
The fraud detection and prevention market is estimated at $35 billion globally and growing at approximately 15 percent annually. Sardine’s behavioral biometrics approach positions it well in a market where increasingly sophisticated fraud techniques are rendering traditional detection methods less effective.
