Heka Raises $14M to bring Real-Time Identity Intelligence to Financial Institutions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Heka Raises $14M to bring Real-Time Identity Intelligence to Financial Institutions
Windare Ventures, Barclays and other institutional investors back Heka’s AI engine as financial institutions seek stronger defenses against synthetic fraud and identity manipulation.
New York, 15 July 2025
Consumer fraud is at an all-time high. Last year, losses hit $12.5 billion – a 38% jump year-over-year. The rise is fueled by burner behavior, synthetic profiles, and AI-generated content. But the tools meant to stop it – from credit bureau data to velocity models – miss what’s happening online. Heka was built to close that gap.
Inspired by the tradecraft of the intelligence community, Heka analyzes how a person actually behaves and appears across the open web. Its proprietary AI engine assembles digital profiles that surface alias use, reputational exposure, and behavioral anomalies. This helps financial institutions detect synthetic activity, connect with real customers, and act faster with confidence.
At the core of Heka’s web intelligence engine is an analyst-grade AI agent. Unlike legacy tools that rely on static files, scores, or blacklists, Heka’s AI processes large volumes of web data to produce structured outputs like fraud indicators, updated contact details, and contextual risk signals. In one recent deployment with a global payment processor, Heka’s AI engine caught 65% of account takeover losses without disrupting healthy user activity.
Heka is already generating millions in revenue through partnerships with banks, payment processors, and pension funds. Clients use Heka’s intelligence to support critical decisions from fraud mitigation to account management and recovery. The $14 million Series A round, led by Windare Ventures with participation by Barclays, Cornèr Banca, and other institutional investors, will accelerate Heka’s U.S. expansion and deepen its footprint across the UK and Europe.
“Heka’s offering stood out for its ability to address a critical need in financial services – helping institutions make faster, smarter decisions using trustworthy external data. We’re proud to support their continued growth as they scale in the U.S.” said Kester Keating, Head of US Principal Investments at Barclays.
Ori Ashkenazi, Managing Partner at Windare Ventures, added: “Identity isn’t a fixed file anymore. It’s a stream of behavior. Heka does what most AI can’t: it actually works in the wild, delivering signals banks can use seamlessly in workflows.”
Heka was founded by Rafael Berber, former Global Head of Equity Trading at Merrill Lynch; Ishay Horowitz, a senior officer in the Israeli intelligence community; and Idan Bar-Dov, a fintech and high-tech lawyer. The broader team includes intel analysts, data scientists, and domain experts in fraud, credit, and compliance.
“The credit bureaus were built for another era. Today, both consumers and risk live online. Heka’s mission is to be the default source of truth for this new digital reality – always-on, accurate, and explainable.” said Idan Bar-Dov, the Co-founder and CEO of Heka.
About Heka
Heka delivers web intelligence to financial services. Its AI engine is used by banks, payment processors, and pension funds to fill critical blind spots in fraud mitigation, credit-decision, and account recovery. The company was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in New York and Tel Aviv.
Press contact
Joy Phua Katsovich, VP Marketing | joy@hekaglobal.com
Resources Posts
Heka Joins Winmark’s PensionChair Network as Technical Partner
Heka has joined Winmark’s PensionChair Network as a Technical Partner.
Winmark convenes senior leaders across sectors through curated executive networks. The PensionChair Network brings together trustee boards and senior pensions professionals across the UK to share insight, address governance challenges, and strengthen scheme oversight.
As Technical Partner, Heka will provide member tracing, data enrichment, and identity verification capabilities to PensionChair members. This includes supporting schemes in resolving incomplete records, tracing overseas members, and addressing complex data quality challenges where traditional UK data sources may be limited.
Heka’s approach combines global open-source intelligence and structured digital footprint analysis to deliver verifiable, explainable outputs that trustees can rely on in fulfilling their governance responsibilities.
The partnership formalises Heka’s engagement with the PensionChair community and expands its collaboration with UK pension leaders.
Further information about upcoming sessions and member engagement will be shared through PensionChair communications and Heka's Linkedin.
Dalriada Partners with Heka to Trace Pension Fraud Victims
We’re proud to support Dalriada Trustees in tracing victims of pension fraud using our AI-driven identity and contact resolution tools. The collaboration has already reunited members with their rightful benefits where traditional tracing methods failed. Read the full article published by Professional Pensions to learn more about how our partnership is helping deliver real outcomes in complex fraud scenarios.
👉 As featured in Professional Pensions
Heka Now Live on NayaOne
We’re excited to announce that Heka is now live on NayaOne, the leading fintech and data marketplace for financial institutions.
Through the NayaOne platform, banks and insurers can now securely trial Heka’s external customer intelligence engine- accessing real-time, explainable insights for credit, fraud, onboarding, and more, all within a sandboxed environment.
This marks a major step in making Heka more accessible to innovation teams looking to accelerate decision-making with trustworthy, real-time web intelligence.