Silent Eight, a Singapore-based regulatory technology (Regtech) company, announced on November 14 that it had raised an oversubscribed $6.2 million through a Series A investment round.
The funds raised will be used to recruit new talent in order to support Silent Eight’s new clients who may use the company’s banking and insurance-related services. The firm has 50 employees on its payroll globally with 20 workers based in Singapore. Silent Eight’s management says it’s planning to double its employee headcount by early next year.
The anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing firm is reportedly planning to recruit more product managers and data scientists in order to assist the company in its research and development (R&D) efforts.
Silent Eight’s funding round was led by existing investor Wavemaker Partners, an early-stage VC firm. Standard Chartered’s venture capital division, SC Ventures, and OTB Ventures also took part in the round.
Existing investor Koh Boon Hwee, an experienced corporate executive and venture capitalist, also participated in Silent Eight’s investment round.
Paul Santos, managing partner at Wavemaker Partners Southeast Asia, will take a seat on Silent Eight’s board.
Standard Chartered is Silent Eight’s largest client and has been working with the startup since last year, in order to improve the bank’s name screening process across the US, the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Silent Eight uses artificial intelligence (AI) to enable improved decision-making, which enhances the name screening process.
Santos noted that financial institutions will continue to face heightened scrutiny and they will also have to deal with more complex regulatory requirements.
Santos stated:
“An artificial intelligence-powered engine like Silent Eight is the most effective solution to weed out money laundering and terrorist financing and reduce manpower and compliance risks.”
Since 2008, financial services providers have had to pay around $28.4 billion in penalties for money laundering and violating sanctions.
Following the global financial crisis, regulatory authorities have introduced stricter compliance procedures.