Citi Ventures Backs Fraud Prevention Company Pindrop

Pindrop announced Wednesday that it's raised $11 million of Series A funding — the round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and Citi Ventures.

The phone fraud prevention and call center authentication company said it will use the cash to add resources to its engineering, operations, sales and marketing efforts in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

As a part of the deal, Scott Weiss, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, is taking a seat on Pindrop's board of directors.

"Financial institutions are on the front lines, facing a well-organized, well-funded growth industry of cyber criminals," said Arvind Purushotham, a managing director at Citi Ventures, in a press release. "Pindrop Security developed a truly unique technology, providing a legitimate solution to address two of the biggest problems financial institutions face today, detecting attackers and seamlessly identifying legitimate callers."

Banks have recently been taking a keen interest in fostering tech startups. At the beginning of the year, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria said it would invest $100 million through its newly created BBVA Ventures arm. Citi started its corporate venture division several years ago.

Oftentimes a bank's investment will raise the profile of the companies it seeds — pushing that investment towards an eventual sale.

In 2011, Citi invested in Silver Tail Systems, a startup that uses predictive analytics to detect and prevent fraud. Silver Tail was sold to the storage-technology giant EMC Corp. (EMC) last year.

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