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Fraud-prevention specialist Tender Armor LLC intends to use the proceeds from its latest funding round to hire more personnel and launch its marketing efforts. Announced Thursday, the funding round, for an unspecified amount (though characterized as “multimillion”), is a big step in growing the startup, says Madeline K. Aufseeser, chief executive and co-founder.
Tender Armor is marketing its CVV+ service, which aims to make e-commerce safer for consumers and prevent fraud for merchants. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company says CVV+ can help stem online fraud by providing a daily card verification code that is not printed on a card and known only to the legitimate cardholder and Tender Armor.
Once an issuer has signed up to offer CVV+, cardholders enroll their cards via a Web site, which issuers can brand with their own logos. Then, once a day, the cardholder retrieves the day’s CVV+ security code—delivered via email, text, or online—and enters that for any online purchases instead of the three or four-digit CVV printed on the card. Banks can connect to Tender Armor via an application programming interface that connects the bank’s software to the CVV+ application or install the software on a hardware security module at the bank.
Fraud costs are a particular bane to e-commerce merchants that want to allow as many legitimate transactions while preventing bad ones from getting through. Some 46% of merchants in a 2016 Merchant Risk Council survey ranked managing e-commerce fraud as their top payments-related concern.
The hiring push is aimed to support Tender Armor’s integration services and boarding clients, Aufseeser tells Digital Transactions News. The investment round was led by private investors Aubrey Strul and Barry Beck, who are the company’s first outside investors.
Aufseeser has high expectations for the company. “We believe we can be the voice of consumers and become more of a consumer advocate,” Aufseeser says. “Our CVV+ preserves their identity.” It does that, she explains, because it puts the consumer in control. “We are alleviating the worry for the consumer so they can continue to charge on,” she says.
Aufseeser positions CVV+ as a prevention tool. Unlike detection tools, which not every merchant employs, she says, prevention tools like hers deputize the cardholder. “They don’t have to give out anything to merchants that is personally identifiable information,” she says. “We think that sets us apart in the marketplace. And, it provides a solution in whichever way they shop and in any channel.”
