University Startup Neuro-ID Secures $35M in Series B Funding

TUCSON, Ariz. – Neuro-ID, a startup founded to commercialize technology developed at the University of Arizona Eller College of Management, today announced that it has raised $35 million in Series B funding led by Canapi Ventures. Existing investors Fin VC and TTV Capital also participated in the round. Neuro-ID will use the additional capital to accelerate its mission of unlocking conversion and optimizing fraud screening for digital organizations of all sizes.

The company was founded based on inventions stemming from research done by company co-founders Joseph Valacich, professor of management information systems, and his former Ph.D. student Jeff Jenkins, now an associate professor of information systems at Bringham Young University. 

Tech Launch Arizona (TLA), the UArizona office that commercializes inventions stemming from research, helped the co-founders get the company off the ground, from inception to IP protection to strategic development.

“After years of evolving the science, with the help of the University and especially Tech Launch Arizona, it is very gratifying to see the technology being adopted across industry leaders and receive the backing and attention of major players,” said Valacich. “This was the dream, it is so exciting to see the company achieve such success with so much more to come.”

“Neuro-ID exemplifies our goals for university commercialization,” said Doug Hockstad, assistant vice president of Tech Launch Arizona. “Seeing this kind of success stemming from research at the University of Arizona demonstrates how important translating technology from the lab to the world is to creating impact. We are thrilled to see Neuro-ID’s success so far, and anticipate more great things from this great team in the future.”

Launched in 2014, Neuro-ID delivers real-time behavioral analytics solutions that combat online fraud, increase conversion rates, and improve customer experiences. Neuro-ID’s proprietary platform originally developed through the founding team’s work at the Eller College – Friction Index^Ⓡ – simplifies access to an organization's behavioral data to reveal key insights into the intent and emotion behind each user interaction. By providing visibility into behavior, Neuro-ID detects genuine customers and isolates fraud in real time. As a result, customers can complete transactions with minimal friction, while risk teams are alerted to fraudulent behavior before a loss occurs. Neuro-ID helps ensure seamless digital customer experiences across a variety of industries and works with leading brands including Intuit, Square, Affirm, OppFi and Elephant Insurance amongst others.

Jack Alton, CEO of Neuro-ID, said, “Neuro-ID enables its clients to tap into the real-time behavior and intent of the person behind the screen. With the false decline problem currently 70X larger than the global fraud problem, this new dimension of visibility enables organizations to identify and convert genuine customers that had previously been declined or subjected to unnecessary friction.”

Mr. Alton continued, “These issues have created a huge market opportunity for Neuro-ID to help our clients see their best customers very early in the digital process. The additional capital from Walker and the team at Canapi provides the resources and deep domain expertise needed to fuel our growth in the years ahead.”

Neuro-ID has been on a strong growth trajectory, reflecting increasing demand for behavioral data in digital companies. Today’s milestone builds on the $7M Series A funding raised in December 2020 and follows an active year which saw the company grow clients and revenue by 4x.