An AI startup automating background checks for major banks and law firms just landed $56 million and promptly announced plans to move its top executives to Boston. Xapien’s Series B marks a decisive bet that physical proximity to American customers will accelerate a sales surge already underway without a single local hire.
That momentum matters because the company’s U.S. revenue hit half of its total annual recurring revenue this year, climbing from 43% in 2025. Meanwhile, global compliance pressures continue mounting, pushing large organizations toward automated third-party screening tools that can keep up with sprawling supply chains and evolving sanctions lists.
Spectrum Equity led the round, with participation from previous investor YFM Equity Partners. The deal pushes Xapien’s total equity funding past $73 million, building on a £6 million seed closed in 2023.
The commercial traction behind the raise looks stark. Xapien’s annual recurring revenue grew more than 350% across two years preceding the Series B, according to Business Wire. That growth happened while the company sold into the American market without any on-the-ground sales staff, a gap CEO Chris Green and other leaders now aim to fill from Massachusetts.
Xapien’s platform scans open web sources, corporate registries, sanctions lists, and news coverage in any language, then generates a sourced, auditable risk report within minutes. Clients report that roughly 90% of onboarding reviews can run fully automated through the tool. The company now serves about 350 clients and partners across 15 countries, including Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, law firm Greenberg Traurig, KPMG, and industrial conglomerate ABB.
A newer product called Xapien Live, currently in beta, extends beyond one-off checks to continuous monitoring of counterparty risk. That offering targets a stubborn problem: only 30% of surveyed organizations say they possess the staff bandwidth to review even half of their active third-party relationships.
Green, who joined in 2022, put the issue bluntly. Third-party due diligence has remained painfully manual for two decades, he said. Dow Jones executive Joel Lange echoed that assessment, pointing to demand for faster, sharper risk decisions.
The company traces its roots to 2018, when founders Dan Secretan and Shaun O’Mahony launched Digital Insight Technologies. All three current executives previously worked in financial crime and national security divisions at BAE Systems. Dartmouth College became Xapien’s first U.S. client in 2022.
Regulatory shifts add fuel. The U.S. Treasury recently eliminated beneficial ownership reporting for domestic companies, narrowing mandatory filings mostly to foreign entities. Conversely, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive threatens fines up to 3% of global turnover for companies failing supply chain checks. As Xapien’s leaders settle into Boston, the company positions itself to capture demand from multinationals navigating those divergent rules.
