The technology billionaire Romesh Wadhwani’s artificial intelligence software company agreed to buy BAE Systems' financial crime detection business, NetReveal.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but SymphonyAI Chief Executive Sanjay Dhawan said in an interview that it was his company’s biggest to date and would help it sell more software to financial institutions. It’s expected to close this year, he said.
Bloomberg reported in January that the U.K. defense giant BAE, which acquired the London-based NetReveal as part of its 2008 purchase of Detica Group, was exploring a sale of the business.
NetReveal develops technology used by firms including banks to prevent fraud and manage risk, and Dhawan said this would bolster SymphonyAI’s existing financial crime tools. The companies compete with firms such as NICE Actimize.
“When the economy turns down, financial crime tends to increase,” Mike Foster, managing director of NetReveal, said in an interview. He added that demand was being driven by new entrants to the financial industry, such as digital payments companies.
SymphonyAI was founded by Wadhwani, who also serves as its chairman.
Founded in 2017 and now led by Dhawan, SymphonyAI will increase its roughly 2,000 staff by about 10% this year and eventually pursue an initial public offering. Dhawan said that no firm date has been set but that an IPO could come in the next couple of years.
