Arkose Labs, provider of online fraud and abuse prevention technology, raised a $70 million Series C funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2* with additional participation from Wells Fargo Strategic Capital and previous investors M12 and PayPal Ventures, bringing the total funding to $114 million to date.

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Arkose Labs takes an approach that is unique in the industry to fighting fraud and cybercrime. Rather than being reactive and playing a constant game of whack-a-mole with attackers, Arkose Labs built its platform by first looking at how fraudsters make money by attacking digital platforms. By working backwards from that starting point and then implementing strategies to make it more difficult for fraudsters to profit from attacks, Arkose Labs undermines the economic drivers behind fraud until the perpetrators are compelled to abandon their attacks.

By combining real-time risk classification of traffic with interactive enforcement challenges, the Arkose Labs platform defeats automated attacks and roots out coordinated human-driven attacks. Targeted friction ruins attackers’ ROI, while allowing genuine users to pass with ease. Arkose Labs protects digital businesses worldwide and is trusted by global brands including Electronic Arts, Dropbox, Microsoft, PayPal, and Sony Interactive Entertainment.

“As more companies conduct business online, they become more vulnerable to online fraud. We believe Arkose Labs has cracked the code in fighting cybercrime, by making it financially non-viable for criminals,” said Nagraj Kashyap, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “Last year Arkose Labs analyzed more than 15 billion online sessions, stopping 4.6 billion attacks and wasting 40 million hours of fraudsters’ time. The company’s unique approach to eliminating the rewards for criminals helps get at the true heart of the problem. We are excited to partner with Kevin and the Arkose Labs team to support their mission to eradicate fraud and cybercrime.”

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“With Masa and the team at Softbank, we have a partner who matches our ambition for eradicating fraud online by means of disrupting the economic ROI for bad actors. At Arkose Labs, we are building a portfolio of capabilities that can adapt and respond based on the fraudsters’ techniques to ensure we are maximizing the impact to them whilst minimizing any form of friction to good users,” said Kevin Gosschalk, Arkose Labs founder and CEO.

Gosschalk added, “With Arkose Labs’ successful expansion in the financial services industry, this signifies a continued digital shift in banking, and requires a customer-centric approach that kicks the bad guys out of online operations, while maintaining the highest levels of convenience and usability that financial services operations require.”

“As the digital world continues to evolve at a rapid pace, it is necessary that the approach to combating online fraud balances protection with a seamless and pleasant customer experience,” said Basil Darwish, managing director for Wells Fargo Strategic Capital. “Arkose Labs addresses the root of the issue by diminishing the underlying financial incentives often associated with cyber-attacks. The company’s rapid growth is a testament to the effectiveness of their product philosophy, and we’re excited to see their next phase of expansion.”

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