Equifax, Experian and Verisk all bring in outside AI-fake detection
Startups catching fake voices and identities took $74 million of the roughly $125 million AI-fake detectors raised since January 2025, cbinsights.com says. Incode's $37 million round is about 30% of the total, so a count of 26 deals overstates how widely the money is spread.
The Investor · Invest desk
Key figures: Incode raised the largest round on the CB Insights map, $37 million. Fraud fighters catching fake voices and identities took $74 million. Companies on the map raised about $125 million in all since January 2025.
| Figure | Value | Note | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incode's round, the largest on the CB Insights map | 37 million dollars | 4 | |
| Taken by fraud fighters | 74 million dollars | 3 | |
| Raised on map, about | 125 million dollars | 2 |
What happened
- Equifax and Experian both license Incode, a vendor that verifies identities and detects deepfakes and synthetic identities.
- Verisk's claims software now includes Truepic, which checks photos and video used in insurance and lending claims; Truepic earlier partnered with Dun & Bradstreet.
- Capital One backed the deepfake detector GetReal and BNY backed Reality Defender in 2025, so two banks hold stakes in detection vendors.
- Seven of the 11 mapped companies started in 2023 or later sell mainly to banks, insurers, or teams that counter impersonation on calls and video meetings.
- Zoom's contact center software now includes Pindrop, which detects voice fraud, and FICO listed Pindrop on its marketplace in May.
Why it matters
- Who has to decide decision Equifax holds two routes to detection at once, an Incode license inside Kount and a named acquisition lane in identity and fraud, so it can renew or buy.
- Who's exposed exposure IdentifAI, DeepTrust, Scam AI and AI or Not are due to raise while one named acquirer is looking, so they are raising and are potential targets at once.
- What it limits constraint Detectors distributed inside Zoom, FICO, Charm or Substack products depend on those partners to reach the customer.
- What doesn't add up contradiction Incode says it serves 8 of the 10 largest US banks and also took the sector's largest round, so the strongest demand evidence and the funding concentration are one company.
Incode's $37 million round was the largest among the 42 VC-backed companies cbinsights.com mapped [1][4]. It describes Incode as verifying identities and detecting deepfakes and synthetic identities [5], so the round probably sits inside the $74 million of fraud-side money [3]. If it does, Incode alone is half of that figure [16], and the other 25 deals in the data averaged about $3.5 million [17].
The buyer evidence has a gap. Equifax's route is two steps: it acquired the fraud platform Kount and already runs Incode inside it [18]. The brief does not say whether Equifax, Experian or Verisk tried to build detection first, and a map of VC-backed vendors would not show an in-house build in any case. That they chose licensing over building is our inference from the pattern.
The counter-thesis sits in the same brief: software companies are adding detection to tools their customers already use, many of them via partnerships or licensing deals [13]. Substack readers can scan posts with Pangram [12], and Charm Security's AI fraud agents can call Reality Defender directly [11], a vendor BNY also backed [8]. In our view, a detector sold inside someone else's product depends on that partner to reach the customer, and that dependence is the risk to the standalone fraud vendors.
The exit path is more specific. On its July earnings call Equifax named identity and fraud as one of four acquisition lanes [19], and cbinsights.com says to expect Equifax to be on the hunt [21]. The likeliest targets, according to cbinsights.com, are small companies built for fraud and identity teams [22], and four of them are in their predicted funding windows now [20].
We think the fraud-team thesis holds, because the contracts and the capital point the same way: Equifax, Experian and Verisk have taken detection from outside vendors [5][7], and Capital One and BNY have invested in two more [8]. The Incode concentration is the weaker point. The thesis fails if a bureau or Verisk announces its own detector, or if the next count puts the fraud share under half of the total; at 59% [14] it has some room.
What to watch
- Whether Equifax announces an acquisition in the identity and fraud lane it named on its July earnings call.
- Funding announcements from IdentifAI, DeepTrust, Scam AI and AI or Not, which cbinsights.com places in their predicted windows now.
- Any announcement of an in-house detector from Equifax, Experian or Verisk, which would undercut the outside-vendor pattern.
Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption60
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives50
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
CB Insights mapped the 42 VC-backed companies in the AI fake-catching business.
- [2]
Since January 2025, the companies on the CB Insights map have raised about $125M across 26 deals.
- [3]
Fraud fighters catching fake voices and identities took $74M of the roughly $125M raised since January 2025.
- [4]
Incode raised the largest round on the map at $37M.
- [5]
Equifax and Experian both license Incode, which verifies identities and detects deepfakes and synthetic identities.
- [6]
Incode has 75+ partners and customers in CB Insights' data, and claims to serve 8 of the 10 largest US banks.
- [7]
Truepic, which verifies photos and video for insurance and lending claims, is now built into Verisk's claims software, and previously partnered with Dun & Bradstreet.
- [8]
Capital One backed deepfake detector GetReal and BNY backed Reality Defender in 2025.
- [9]
Of the 11 companies on the map founded since 2023, 7 sell mainly to banks, insurers, or teams fighting impersonation on calls and video meetings.
- [10]
Zoom built voice-fraud detector Pindrop into its contact center software, and FICO added Pindrop to its marketplace in May.
- [11]
In March, Charm Security gave its AI fraud agents the ability to call Reality Defender's deepfake detection directly.
- [12]
Substack added a button that lets readers scan posts with AI-text detector Pangram.
- [13]
Software companies are building detection into products their customers already use, many through partnerships and licensing deals.
- [14]
Fraud-side funding is about 59% of the roughly $125M raised.
- [15]
Incode's $37M round is about 30% of the roughly $125M raised.
- [16]
If Incode's $37M round sits inside the $74M fraud-side total, it is half of that total.
- [17]
If Incode's round is one of the 26 deals, the other 25 deals averaged about $3.5M.
- [18]
Equifax already runs Incode inside Kount, the fraud platform it acquired.
- [19]
On its July earnings call, Equifax named identity and fraud as one of its four acquisition lanes.
- [20]
Four companies on the map are in their predicted funding windows now: IdentifAI, DeepTrust, Scam AI and AI or Not.
- [21]
cbinsights.com says to expect Equifax to be on the hunt for acquisitions.
- [22]
cbinsights.com says the likeliest acquisition targets are small companies built for fraud and identity teams.
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Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
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cbinsights.com
1 article · October 15, 2026
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