Google Capital Throws $75M To Phone Fraud Startup

Pindrop Security, a security startup that has phone fraud in its sights, has garnered a $75 million Series C funding round led by Google Capital.

[bctt tweet=”Phone fraud in its sights, Pindrop has garnered a $75 million Series C funding round led by Google Capital.”]

Returning investors coming in alongside Google Capital include Institutional Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz. The total raised to date by the company stands at $122 million, reported Fortune on Thursday (Jan. 28).

Vijay Balasubramaniyan, the company’s cofounder and chief executive officer, opened the doors in 2011, and the original genesis was as a firm dedicated to finding fraud in phone calls. Key data ranges from where calls originate to what device they may be using. It also attempts to identify just who is on the line. Red flags can be raised in the event that, say, a caller does not offer up what could be termed an “audio footprint.”

In an interview with Fortune, a Google Capital partner said that his parent company is looking to invest in technology geared toward human interaction. Google, as has been reported, has been branching out into components and communications, as Fortune noted, with entrants into that market including Google Glass and Google Now. And there is, of course, the growth seen in situations where virtual assistance is being adopted.

In his interview with Fortune, Balasubramaniyan told the publication that the voice anti-fraud industry could be a $20 billion industry globally, a projection that is, in part, tied to the call center industry around the world. He said that his firm’s efforts would continue to focus on areas in Europe and in countries, such as the United Kingdom, where incidents of phone cards being used illegally are several times higher than have been seen in other countries within the region.