Feedzai, a Portuguese fraud protection startup with headquarters in California just got $17,5M in a Series B funding backed by Oak HC/FT, Sapphire Ventures and Espirito Santo Ventures. Along with the investment, Oak HC/FT’s Patricia Kemp and Jonathan Weiner will join Feedzai’s board of directors.

Created in 2011 by Nuno Sebastião, Paulo Marques and Pedro Bizarro, Feedzai uses machine learning and big data science to make commerce safe. Their software pinpoints risk and blocks fraud earlier, diminishing loss and unnecessary intrusions on customers.

Among Feedzai’s wide range of famous clients there are Celfocus, Coca-Cola, Logica, Vodafone, Ericsson, SIBS Payment Solutions, Horizon Wind Energy, and Servebase Credit Card Solutions. Just last year Feedzai analyzed more than 18 billion transactions (more than $760 billion in payment volume).

According to Patricia Kemp, General Partner at Oak HC/FT,

Feedzai’s capabilities in big data science and machine learning, combined with its strong management team, have enabled the company to create a powerful portfolio of fraud-prevention solutions for the world’s largest banks, retailers and payment providers.

The funding will be used to expand sales and engineering teams, to help face the customer demand.