Munich-based fintech says AI-driven tools can slash false positives and double novel crime detection
Hawk, a Munich-based anti-money laundering startup, just bagged $56 million in fresh capital — and it’s not planning to play defense.
Armed with AI-powered compliance tools, Hawk says its mission is simple: help banks fight financial crime more effectively, and at lower cost. The Series C round, led by One Peak, brings the company’s total raised to more than $190 million. Existing investors like Macquarie Capital, Rabobank, BlackFin Capital, and DN Capital also joined the round.
CEO Tobias Schweiger isn’t mincing words: “Every financial institution that wants to reduce compliance workloads and increase the accuracy of risk detection should be using AI to achieve those goals.”
And the numbers? They back him up. According to Schweiger, Hawk’s tools have boosted alert accuracy to nearly 90% in some deployments, halved false positives, and identified “twice as many previously undetected cases of novel criminal activity.”
The end of rules-based detection?
Financial crime detection has long been dominated by rules-based systems — basically if-this-then-that logic trees — that flag suspicious activity. Problem is, they’re clunky, trigger tons of false alarms, and are relatively easy for fraudsters to work around.
“AI is in our DNA at Hawk,” Schweiger said. “We’re here to provide financial institutions with the tools and tech they need to completely transform their anti-financial crime operations.”
Instead of relying solely on fixed logic, Hawk’s platform uses machine learning to continuously improve its detection capabilities — catching unusual behavior that might escape traditional filters, while reducing unnecessary friction for banks and customers alike.
Customers from Tier 1 banks to mid-market fintechs
Founded in 2018, Hawk has more than 80 clients globally — a mix of large Tier 1 banks, mid-sized financial institutions, and fintech upstarts.
Its platform includes real-time transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, customer risk scoring, and case management — all unified under an AI Surveillance Suite. That’s the tool Hawk debuted during its 2022 appearance at FinovateSpring in San Francisco.
The company’s edge lies in combining AI with traditional rules-based systems — a hybrid approach that offers flexibility while still meeting regulatory expectations.
Capital to scale and innovate
Hawk plans to use the Series C proceeds to fuel product innovation and scale operations globally. While it hasn’t specified exact expansion targets, the company is likely eyeing deeper penetration into North America and APAC, where regulatory complexity is high and demand for compliance tech is growing fast.
The investment also positions Hawk as a serious player in the increasingly competitive regtech space — where firms like ComplyAdvantage, Alloy, and Feedzai are all vying to help financial institutions meet rising compliance demands.
But Schweiger believes Hawk’s ability to identify “novel” crime patterns — including money mules, account takeovers, and synthetic ID fraud — gives them an edge.
