Financial institutions worldwide are grappling with a seismic shift in the fraud landscape. While unauthorised fraud, where criminals process payments without victims’ knowledge, remains a threat, authorised fraud has become the primary concern. In these cases, fraudsters manipulate victims into willingly sending money through sophisticated social engineering and AI-driven scams.
To combat these challenges, Madrid-based cybersecurity startup Acoru has emerged from stealth mode with a €4 million seed funding round led by Adara Ventures and Athos Capital. Founded in 2023, the company is already preparing for a Series A round in 2026 as it aims to revolutionise fraud prevention for financial institutions worldwide.
As a European company with a growing presence in the Americas, Acoru plans to use the funding to continue its international expansion.
How Acoru combats both unauthorised and authorised fraud
Regulatory bodies across Europe and the Americas are tightening requirements, with new mandates on fraud reimbursement and real-time scam detection. Traditional fraud controls, which focus on blocking unauthorised transactions, fall short against scams where customers are tricked into approving payments themselves. This evolving threat landscape creates both an urgent need and a massive opportunity for next-generation solutions like Acoru’s.
Acoru’s mission is clear: empower banks and fintechs to detect and prevent both unauthorised and authorised fraud, including money mule activity and money laundering, before losses occur. Their innovative, user-friendly platform detects early signs of fraud, identifies mule accounts, and helps prevent money laundering.
Founders Pablo de la Riva Ferrezuelo and David Morán bring over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity and fraud prevention. They previously established Buguroo, which later became Revelock and was acquired by Feedzai, achieving milestones such as monitoring over 400 million devices for 120 million users globally. Their background in global firms like Deloitte’s Cyber Excellence Centre and Feedzai equips them well to tackle complex fraud prevention challenges.
“The fraud landscape is evolving rapidly, with scams now accounting for approximately 70% of total banking fraud worldwide,” says Pablo de la Riva, CEO of Acoru. “Acoru is committed to staying ahead of these trends by developing innovative solutions that address the latest challenges faced by financial institutions.”
Acoru remains focused on anticipating emerging fraud trends, providing financial institutions with tools to protect their assets and customers. The platform helps organisations detect early fraud signals and identify money mule accounts, preventing scams and money laundering schemes before they occur.
Behind Acoru’s platform: advanced technology to process structured and unstructured data
Acoru’s platform processes both structured and unstructured data through an intuitive, user-friendly interface that anyone in the organisation can understand. This democratisation of expertise levels the playing field in financial crime detection, making advanced tools accessible across the organisation. The platform’s ease of use, customisation options, and effectiveness in identifying pre-fraud signals have driven rapid adoption.
The platform excels at tracking account changes and detecting mule accounts by leveraging pre-fraud indicators and continuously monitoring and classifying account types over time. This preemptive approach anticipates omnichannel fraudulent attacks, providing financial institutions with a proactive defence against evolving threats.
“AI-driven scams are advancing rapidly, demanding innovative defences from financial institutions to stay one step ahead. Acoru delivers just that – leveraging intelligence and automation to detect fraud signals and stop scams before they happen,” said Alberto Gómez, Founding Partner at Adara Ventures. “We’re proud to support the team as they begin to scale their impact internationally.”
