District financial intelligence and corporate transparency startup Sayari Labs Inc. has raised $40 million in new funding.
The local company said Tuesday the Series C round was led by Palo Alto, California's Centana Growth Partners, with participation from existing local investors McLean’s Lavrock Ventures and Herndon’s SAP NS2; and other existing investors Arsenal Growth Equity of Winter Park, Florida; TFX Capital of Fort Mill, South Carolina; and MissionOG of Philadelphia.
Sayari, which helps big corporations and financial institutions identify risk factors for fraud and national security threats, said it plans to use the capital to continue an international expansion as the business looks to increase transparency in the global financial intelligence arena.
That includes flagship product Sayari Graph, which arms companies with tools to comply with regulations and insights about their customers, vendors, employees and other related players.
“The last two years have thrown into sharp relief the complexities and vulnerabilities of global supply chains and financial networks. With greater complexity comes greater risk: money laundering, forced labor, and everything in between,” Sayari CEO Farley Mesko said in a statement. "Better understanding and management of these risks starts with better data, and we’re thrilled to partner with Centana to take our solution to mission-driven organizations worldwide.”
Sayari now counts nearly 200 enterprise customers — from government agencies to financial firms to multinational corporations — across 35 countries using its data intelligence platform.
Sayari combs the web for data to fight global financial crime and increase transparency. The company specializes in financial and business data from emerging markets, where the data is tougher to access from publicly available databases. (Think: corporate registries, civil litigation registries and land ownership data from countries like Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, China and more.) Then Sayari gives customers the ability to search these records.
The D.C. company — an Inno on Fire winner of 2020 — last raised $9 million in Series B funding in early 2020. To date, per PitchBook data, Sayari has raised more than $56 million.
Mesko founded the risk management and data collection firm in 2015. He’d previously been a special correspondent for The East African magazine and a freelance journalist covering developing countries and conflict zones. He then became chief operating officer for D.C.-based C4ADS, a nonprofit focused on data analysis in conflict zones and fragile states.
