Hummingbird: Modernizing Anti-Money Laundering

October 25, 2018

With all of the innovation happening in financial services (see Homebrew portfolio companies like Chime, Even, Gusto, Plaid and TrueAccord as examples) it’s no surprise that regulatory compliance is becoming a front and center issue. But dealing with these issues isn’t for the faint of heart and requires the experience and knowledge to handle them correctly. That’s where Hummingbird comes in. Hummingbird brings simplicity, flexibility and intelligence to the anti-money laundering (AML) efforts of financial institutions of all types. We’re delighted to announce we’ve led a $3 million seed financing for the company, in partnership with Omidyar Network, TTV and Designer Fund.

WHO: Joe Robinson, Matt Van Buskirk and Jo Ann Barefoot, co-founders of Hummingbird, bring a unique mix of regulatory and technology expertise to the company. Joe solved risk and compliance challenges in product roles at Circle and Square. Matt and Jo Ann are former regulators and recognized compliance experts. Collectively, the team has lived the problem, worked to solve it and knows how to leverage technology to address it in a scalable and repeatable way.

WHAT: Hummingbird uses machine learning and seamless workflows to provide superpowers to financial crime fighters. Financial institutions struggle to keep up with increasing complexity in AML, and investigators are swamped with cumbersome workflows, strict timelines, and scattered data. Hummingbird’s software-as-a-service and data-driven algorithms assist AML experts with complex investigations and help these institutions stay on top of new money laundering methods.

HOW: Hummingbird’s software combines easy deployment that requires no integration with an intelligent platform that generates insights about investigation subjects and provides capabilities like interactive pattern visualization, automatic location intelligence, time-sequence narratives of customer behaviors, and relationship mapping between investigation subjects. Built-in collaboration tools help share case files securely both inside and outside the financial institution. Ultimately, Hummingbird delivers easier, smarter and more collaborative AML compliance at at time when the financial services industry needs it most.

WHY: Adding intelligence to the compliance process and making it easier for investigators and law enforcement to follow the money is at the heart of Hummingbird’s vision – one that can have a real impact in curbing financing of terrorism, human trafficking, and making the financial system safe for all of us. $2 trillion is laundered every year and less than 1% is caught. Profits from political corruption, bribery, organized crime, human trafficking, and illegal trading all end up being laundered through the financial system. Crimes that rely on money laundering are on the rise. Hummingbird’s mission is to safeguard everyday citizens from the impact of money laundering, as we couldn’t be more excited to support the team’s efforts.

If you interested in enabling financial innovation but protecting all of us from bad actors, join the Hummingbird team. You’ll be joining a team with the strongest collections of skills and experience in the industry.