Apto Payments, Sardine team on anti-fraud tools

Dive Brief:

Apto Payments, the San Francisco-based card issuer, teamed up with Sardine, a fraud prevention, compliance and settlement company headquartered in Miami, to enable clients to launch card programs with fraud prevention capabilities, according to a Thursday press release.
The partnership will let Apto customers issue cards “with support from comprehensive transaction monitoring tools to identify and prevent fraudulent behavior,” according to the press release.
Sardine’s fraud and compliance technology, including its real-time risk-scoring engine, will help Apto generate revenue while reducing risky transactions, Sardine CEO Soups Ranjan said in the statement.

Dive Insight:

The partnership with Sardine is part of Apto’s efforts to build high-end developer tools and comprehensive card management services for its customers, the company noted in a press release. The deal follows Apto’s October announcement that it was partnering with Patriot Bank to help clients issue cards.

“We are focused on ensuring that our customers can be successful with their card programs, even in the most challenging, highly evolving environments,” Apto Payments CEO Meg Nakamura said in the statement. “Partnering with Sardine allows us to bolster our own fraud and risk engines, resulting in the best cardholder protections in the industry.”

The deal between Sardine and Apto Payments follows a $51.5 million investment funding round for Sardine six months ago, with money flowing from Andreessen Horowitz’s Growth Fund, card giant Visa, tech behemoth Google’s venture arm and other investors, TechCrunch reported. The company had previously raised $19.5 million last February, TechCrunch reported.

Apto made an important acquisition in September 2021, buying credit card startup Vertical Finance for an undisclosed sum. Through that purchase it was able to strengthen its management team, adding that company’s co-founder and CEO, Matthew Goldman, who is now Apto’s president. With Vertical Finance under its ownership, Apto can provide its customers with the subsidiary’s credit card and rewards technology.