Guardian Analytics Secures $11 Million in Financing

LOS ALTOS, Calif., March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Guardian Analytics, the market leader in behavioral analytics fraud prevention software, today announced that following a record year of growth, it has raised $11 million in Series D funding.  The company added Split Rock Partners to its list of investors, and existing investors Foundation Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures contributed ongoing investments.  Guardian Analytics will use the funding to rapidly advance the company's direct and channel sales efforts and to further enhance its proven product lines with expanded risk analytics and solutions to address the growing problem of fraud in financial institutions.  In conjunction with the new funding, Jim Simons, managing director at Split Rock Partners, joins the Board of Directors at Guardian Analytics.

"Guardian Analytics offers a proven solution to the rapidly escalating cybercrime problem facing financial institutions of all sizes," said Jim Simons, managing director at Split Rock Partners.  "Our firm backs many analytics-based companies and we believe Guardian Analytics' proven behavior-based approach coupled with its rapid deployment and broad-reaching integration model differentiate the company and are the right ingredients for rapid growth and market leadership."

"Attempts to secure the end-point or lock the front door to online banking using multi-factor authentication have failed and cybercriminals are attacking institutions and their customers with impunity," said Terry Austin, CEO of Guardian Analytics.  "With reputations and relationships severely damaged, lawsuits filed, and potential new legislation and regulations advancing in Washington, financial institutions are moving faster than ever to adopt FraudMAP as a more advanced layer of security that will proactively stop the widest array of threats."

The funding follows a landmark year at Guardian Analytics.  In 2010, the company expanded its customer base by 150 percent, with 134 percent revenue growth in H2 over H1.  FraudMAP's anomaly detection and transaction monitoring capabilities stop the widest range of fraud attacks while improving operational productivity, and the company boasts a 100 percent referenceability rate.  In the past year, Guardian Analytics launched two major product innovations: FraudMAP for Business Banking, a solution purpose-built to identify anomalous behavior in the unique multi-user and transaction-intensive business banking environment; and FraudMAP Version 4, which introduced the company's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and rapid deployment model, making advanced protection accessible to resource-constrained community banks and credit unions on 15 retail and business online banking platforms.

Guardian Analytics' newest board member, Jim Simons, is a founding managing director of Split Rock Partners.  With offices in Minneapolis and Menlo Park, Split Rock seeks emerging opportunities in software, Internet services and healthcare.  Split Rock closed a $275 million inaugural fund in April of 2005 and a $300 million second fund in May, 2008.  Jim's portfolio companies include netGenesis (acquired by SPSS), eBureau, Compete (acquired by TNS), LowerMyBills.com (acquired by Experian), and QuinStreet (QNST).

About Guardian Analytics

Headquartered in Los Altos, Calif., Guardian Analytics is focused on the prevention of online banking fraud and committed to making advanced solutions available to institutions of all sizes.  The company's risk management approach to detecting account takeover and fraudulent transactions is built on deep expertise in behavioral analytics, online banking and online fraud.  National and community banks and credit unions rely on Guardian Analytics to protect individual account assets the integrity of their online channels and their brand reputations.  Founded in 2005, Guardian Analytics is privately held with venture funding from Split Rock Partners, Foundation Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures.  For more information, please visit www.guardiananalytics.com.

SOURCE Guardian Analytics