ComplyAdvantage announces ComplyLaunch™ - A new risk & compliance program

ComplyAdvantage, a data technology company transforming financial crime detection announced a new early-stage anti-money laundering (AML) program aimed at growth-focused startups called ComplyLaunch™.

The program provides qualified startups with free access to the company’s award-winning AML and Know Your Customer (KYC) tools and resources needed to uncover and reduce the threat of money-laundering activities so they can onboard new customers with lower risk and greater trust.  

AML training and education

In addition, ComplyAdvantage has partnered with the global financial crime compliance consultancy FINTRAIL to provide AML education and ongoing training for program participants.  

FINTRAIL is a recognised authority on financial crime prevention in financial technology (FinTech) and the application of regulatory technology (RegTech), working with industry-leading clients across the globe to transform, build, scale, and assure AFC compliance frameworks that are relevant for digital products.

Why ComplyLaunch, why now?

The impetus for ComplyLaunch was to prepare startups to take on money laundering 

The impetus for the program was to prepare startups to take on one of the biggest challenges their businesses will face, which is money laundering.

If transacting startups want to maximise their competitive advantage with new or expanded services, then they need intelligent AML and risk management data solutions to prevent the unintended consequences of unknowingly onboarding criminal entities.

Free access to AML

As a serial entrepreneur, ComplyAdvantage founder and CEO Charles Delingpole has experienced first-hand the many challenges that startup teams face and that the early-stage prevention of money-laundering shouldn’t be one of them.

As such, Delingpole believes that providing free access to ComplyAdvantage’s AML tools will allow more fintech startups to reach success faster by reducing the business exposure due to unforeseen financial crimes.

“At ComplyAdvantage, we believe that free early access to AML tools and education on setting up a compliance program is a benefit to our entire fintech ecosystem,” said Charles Delingpole, founder, and CEO of ComplyAdvantage.

Maintaining fintech integrity

“By democratising access to best-in-class financial crime prevention tools, we are allowing fintech startups to not only match but exceed the compliance program standards of the largest, most regulated banks.  ComplyLaunch is a very important program designed to maintain the integrity of Fintech insurgents by reducing the growing threat of financial crimes.”

Startup collaborations

The first startups to join ComplyLaunch include trustshare, a company that’s revolutionising escrow payments, and Juno a company that delivers comprehensive solutions to integrate multi-channel payment services with ERPs and e-Commerce platforms.

“Because we’re focused on simplifying bank payments between friends, family, customers, and businesses it made complete sense for our team to join the ComplyLaunch program,” said Pete Bailey, founder, and CPO of Juno.

“Partnering with ComplyAdvantage to implement their gold-standard AML detection solution means that we can onboard customers with greater confidence.”

Criteria for applications

Those early-stage fintech startups with no institutional funding are invited to apply for the program. To apply, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Less than $1M in annual revenue
• Pre-seed - Seed stage
• A company website or web profile
• Less than 10 years old

“We’re excited to join as a launch partner for ComplyLaunch and to provide program members with access to our world-class AML training”, said James Nurse, Managing Director of FINTRAIL EMEA. “There are future fintech unicorns waiting to grow and early money-laundering and risk prevention resources will only help them to reach their success, faster.”

Helping emerging start-ups

As a sign of growing community interest, the ComplyLaunch program will be promoted with the support of world-class organisations including the leading talent investor Entrepreneur First and Seccl an innovative technology platform providing outsourced custody for financial services firms looking to safeguard their clients' assets.

"There has never been a greater time to start a fintech company and we've seen more and more of the world's most ambitious people wanting to startup in this space,” said Jonny Clifford, of Entrepreneur First.

“With the growing complexity of financial service interdependencies, ComplyLaunch is a great idea at the perfect time to help these emerging, disruptive fintech startups to scale more easily and more confidently.”

Early access to AML

And finally, Max Rimple a Principal at Index Ventures and a lead investor in ComplyAdvantage also shared his thoughts on the program launch, "with the staggering amount of investment capital going into fintech and related financial services, it's important that startups have early access to intelligent AML and risk management tools so they can grow with integrity and confidence."

ComplyLaunch is a starting point for fintech founders to safeguard their businesses from the risks of financial crimes

"The ComplyLaunch program is a great starting point for fintech founders to safeguard their businesses from the risks of financial crimes. It's also good for their investors who appreciate that early compliance practices help to set the stage for future success."

Risk Management

ComplyAdvantage offers a true hyperscale financial risk insight and AML data solution that leverages machine learning and natural language processing to help regulated organisations manage their risk obligations and prevent financial crime.

The company’s proprietary database is derived from millions of data points that provide dynamic, real-time insights across sanctions, watchlists, politically exposed persons, and negative news. This reduces dependence on manual review processes and legacy databases by up to 80% and improves how companies screen and monitor clients and transactions.