Acoru, a Madrid-based cybersecurity startup focused on stopping AI-enabled financial crime, announced it has raised €10 million in Series A funding to accelerate its mission to help banks detect and prevent fraud before it occurs. The round was led by 33N Ventures, with participation from existing investors Adara Ventures and Athos Capital.
The funding comes at a critical time for the banking industry, as institutions worldwide face new regulations requiring shared reimbursement for fraud victims. Acoru’s technology enables banks to identify “pre-fraud” activity, which is an early signal of potential scams and money mule behavior before any transaction is made. This proactive approach represents a significant shift from traditional anti-fraud systems that only react after money has been transferred.
Generative AI has fueled a new era of fraud, with deepfakes, voice cloning, and social engineering scams driving record global losses estimated at nearly $500 billion annually. Many existing fraud detection systems are ill-equipped to identify authorized push payment (APP) scams, where victims are tricked into willingly sending funds to fraudsters. Acoru’s platform fills this gap by focusing on intent rather than isolated transactions.
Using continuous monitoring and advanced AI modeling, Acoru analyzes every event across a network of accounts, detecting irregularities such as micro-transactions, suspicious interaction patterns, or automation linked to fraudulent activity. The system evaluates both the victim’s and counterparty’s accounts to predict which users or accounts may become involved in scams or money laundering schemes.
Acoru’s consortium-based approach also allows financial institutions to collaborate by sharing account classifications and fraud indicators in a centralized network. This collective defense model enhances the industry’s ability to identify interconnected fraud activities across institutions, all while maintaining regulatory compliance with frameworks such as PSD3 and PS23/4.
Founded in late 2023 by cybersecurity veterans Pablo de la Riva Ferrezuelo and David Morán, Acoru has quickly established itself as one of Europe’s most innovative fraud prevention platforms. Within two years, the company has built a global team of over 30 specialists and achieved strong revenue growth by serving banks and financial institutions of varying sizes.
With this funding, Acoru plans to expand its technology platform, strengthen its consortium infrastructure, and broaden its international reach. And the funding will also support further product development to enhance pre-fraud detection capabilities and ensure compliance with new global banking liability regulations.
KEY QUOTES:
“AI has changed the face of fraud and money laundering. You simply cannot expect technology built in 2010 to combat fraud happening in 2025. The Acoru team has spent years within the cybersecurity and fraud prevention industries and realised we are failing to keep up with the changing fraud landscape.”
“Scammers today have more powerful tools at their disposal than ever before. Our approach predicts future victims, money mules and accounts at risk of being laundered by detecting the earliest warning signals others can’t see. With our innovative consortium model, banks can finally exchange account classifications through a centralised network that creates a truly collective defence. This is a paradigm shift in how fraud is fought.”
Pablo de la Riva Ferrezuelo, CEO and Co-founder, Acoru
“Voluntary fraud has become one of the most damaging and underestimated challenges in today’s financial system. It hurts individuals, families, and institutions alike. These scams are notoriously difficult to detect and stop, and with the rise of AI they will only become more frequent, more sophisticated, and more impactful. What impressed us about Acoru is not just their vision, but the rare combination of deep domain expertise and execution excellence of the founding team. Only an exceptional team could design a platform this comprehensive, easy to deploy, and intelligent. At 33N Ventures, we are proud to back Acoru as they redefine how financial fraud is identified and prevented.”
Carlos Moreira da Silva, Partner, 33N Ventures
