Fraud is evolving fast. Criminals now use AI to create synthetic identities, forge documents, and launch scams good enough to slip past traditional detection systems. Resistant AI, a Prague-based startup founded in 2019 by Martin Rehak and the team behind Cognitive Security, acquired by Cisco, aims to change the way.
Rehak told TFN exclusively, “The core of our founding team has worked together for nearly 20 years. We’ve been building AI-driven solutions to tackle security challenges since 2006 — long before AI became the cool buzzword it is today. Our journey began in network security, where we built our first startup, which was acquired by Cisco in 2013. By the time we left Cisco in 2019 to launch Resistant AI, we had already mastered using AI to combat criminal activity on a global scale.”
Today, Resistant AI announced a $25 million Series B round led by DTCP Growth, with Experian, Google Ventures, and Notion Capital also participating. The new funds will drive European expansion and fuel the development of advanced threat intelligence capabilities.
Rehak explained to us, “Fraud and financial crime is an incredibly exciting field. It was a bit of a backwater when we founded Resistant AI, but everything has changed with two recent trends that are reshaping the threat landscape:”
The company’s mission is clear: protect the global financial system from AI-powered fraud networks. Rehak’s vision is to empower overwhelmed fraud, risk, and compliance teams with machine learning tools that detect fraud across documents, transactions, and behaviour with unmatched accuracy.
Resistant AI’s core technology is a multi-model, fully native AI architecture that integrates signals from across a customer’s risk tech stack. The company delivers recall, precision, and contextual decision-making, enabling real-time detection of complex crimes like authorised push payment (APP) fraud, synthetic corporate identities, money muling, and AI-generated document forgery.
Key competitors include Onfido, Ocrolus, ComplyAdvantage, and Featurespace. Still, Resistant AI’s native approach and multi-signal integration provide a distinct edge in accuracy and adaptability.
The latest funding will accelerate product growth, particularly enhancing document fraud detection, transaction monitoring, and threat intelligence, while supporting scaling partnerships and broadening the customer base.
Rehak concluded, “Traditional financial crime prevention systems simply aren’t built to keep up with these sophisticated tactics. For us, this is a return to our roots. The techniques criminals use in financial crime are quickly evolving to mirror those used in cybercrime, and our deep cybercrime experience gives us a significant edge. We don’t just know what catches criminals — we know what doesn’t, and that knowledge is what enables us to always stay one step ahead.”
