ThetaRay
Israeli AI anti-money-laundering and cyber-analytics company; its co-founder and long-time chief executive Mark Gazit came from the Israeli Air Force and NICE Systems' intelligence division
| ThetaRay
| |
|---|---|
| Logo |  ThetaRay logo |
| Type | Private company |
| Founded | 2013 (a "one-year company" in July 2014, according to its chief executive) |
| Founder(s) | Mark Gazit, Amir Averbuch, Ronald Coifman |
| Headquarters | Tel Aviv (according to FinSMEs, 2014) |
| Industry | Financial technology; anti-money-laundering; cyber security |
| Services | AI transaction monitoring, sanctions screening and customer risk scoring for banks |
| Homepage | thetaray.com |
ThetaRay is an Israeli company that sells artificial-intelligence software for detecting money laundering and screening payments against sanctions lists. It began as a "big data analytics" company for "advanced cyber security", based in Tel Aviv, built on algorithms developed by the academics Amir Averbuch and Ronald Coifman.[1] Its co-founder and chief executive until 2023, Mark Gazit, said in 2014: "I have been involved in the cyber security space since my service in the Israeli Air Force" (Israeli Air Force).[1][2]
Founders and military and intelligence links
In a 2014 interview with FinSMEs, Gazit said: "I have been involved in the cyber security space since my service in the Israeli Air Force. Before joining ThetaRay, I served as Managing Director of Cyber and Intelligence Solutions for NICE Systems, providing cyber security services to homeland security and classified sectors. For many years, I was also a trusted consultant to homeland security entities in Israel" (NICE Systems). He named the company's academic founders as "Professors Amir Averbuch and Ronald Coifman, who spent seven years developing the big data anomaly detection algorithms that power our solution", and described ThetaRay as "a one-year company but with ten years of academic research".[1] He added that Israel's ecosystem "combines technology, venture capital and military experience to create a flow of people who, at a very young age, have an extensive level of proven experience in cybersecurity".[1]
TechCrunch reported in 2023 that Peter Reynolds, formerly chief revenue officer, had taken over as chief executive in June that year "from co-founder Mark Gazit, who has continued to advise the business".[2]
Funding
In 2014 Gazit named ThetaRay's investors as General Electric, JVP and Bank Hapoalim, after a $10 million Series B round.[1] In September 2023 ThetaRay raised $57 million in a round led by the fintech investor Portage, with JVP and OurCrowd. TechCrunch reported that it had raised about $160 million in total, from backers including ABN AMRO, General Electric, Alibaba, PwC and SVB Financial, and that its chairman was Erel Margalit, who led JVP's investment. Its customers included Santander and Travelex.[2]
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 FinSMEs, ThetaRay, Interview With CEO Mark Gazit FinSMEs, 29 July 2014, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ingrid Lunden, ThetaRay nabs $57M for AI tools to fight money laundering TechCrunch, 5 September 2023, accessed 10 November 2026.