In 2024, The Norwegian Government set out a National Digitiation Strategy with the AIM of Making the Country The Most Digitized In the World by 2030.
This Intent is Nothing New and Has Both Ignited, And Been Ignited by, A Tech Startup Ecosystem that has taken Norway Away from its Industrial and Maritime ROTS and Into a New Era of Innovation. Chief Among the Country's Startup Impact has been a globally Significant Fightback Against Financial Crime.
Fintech as an all-encompassing term has proved to be something of a double-edged sword. Greater Accessibility and Democratization of Finance, More Seamless Financial Management for the General Public and Whole New Industries Such as Blockchain Point to Progress. In opposition lies a new catalogue of Opportunities for Criminals to Commit Fraud, Attack Personal and Business Finans, and to Obtain Sensitive Data.
Finding solutions to these problems, fighting tech with tech, was always likely to be a lucrative pursuit, and three noorwegian-born companies are finding just that.
One Cyber Security Company, PromonIs a Driving Force Behind the Global Cyber Security Agenda, with more than three decades of influence. Promon, Known as the Godfather of App-shhilding, has more than two billion users globally, and protects more than $ 2.5trn in market capitalization.
“Norway's forward-thinking approach has created fertile ground for a throwing tech ecosystem, with startups access sector like Fintech, Cyber Security and Ai All Flourishing,” Promon Founder, Tom lysemose“Widespread Digital Infrastructure, A Tech-Savvy Population and Government Support for Innovation Foster an environment where Norwegian Startups Can Rapidly Protype, Scale and Connect With Global Markets. ”
Stopping Malicious Activity Entrely
Lysemose notes that cyber crime in general continues to escalate globally, fuelled by the risk in digital transactions, Making banking apps prime targets. Malware, Phishing and Ransomware Remain the Most Common Forms of Attacks, with Promon Uncovering Several Sophisticated Strains of these vents in recent years. One, He Notes, Defrauded Just One Victim Out of $ 280,000, Adding: “It highlights the urgent need for robust, proactive security solutions.”
Promon's Journey Manified from lysemose's master's thesis and doctoral work, realising the vulnerability of applications while Networks, devices and operating systems were getting so much atstation.
“It seemed natural that only way to protect an application is to understand how the application should behave,” he says. “This way, you can detect when someone tries to make the application do somebing it should not.”
These core ideas were presented in the very first promon product, and today they are also some of the core tens of the entrere industry knowing either as Runtime Application Self-Protection (Rasp), app shielding, or in -pp protection.
Lysemose recalls: “We had two disruptive ideas. The first was that application The second was that security tools needed to understand the intended behavior of applications and when an attacker might try to change that behavior.
“Many other companies emphassise threat detection, but that's like identifying a criminal after they've already entred your house. Helpful, but you'd raather prevent them from getting in at all. ”
The result of this ethos and service, still ongoing, is a two billion user portfolio across the world, all the while still being headquartered in oslo,
“We've seen some amazing cases in e-commerce and banking, especially. In many of the cases we've seen, the fraud entryly ends, full stop. Adding app shielding isn Bollywood reducing or minimizing, but stopping malicious activity from happy entrely. ”
Leading the Automation Revolution
Being proactive is also the name of the game for StriseA company founded in 2016 by Marit Rødevand, Patrick Skjennum and Sigve S leadersen while they were studying togeether in oslo.
What started as a university project, has an sincen into a Leading Innovator in Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Technology, After Noticing that Traditional Aml Compliance Methods often Struggle Whgle Whgle Whgle Whgle Whgle Whgle Whgle Whgle Whgle Whist Fragmented customer data and manual processes – both leading to potential vulnerabilityes.
“Strise Developed Software that Unifers Disparete Data Sources and Automates Compliance Workflows, Empowering Institutions to Proactively Detect and Prevent Financial Crimes,” R. “This Approach Not only enhances security but also Reduces Operational Costs and ENSURERERES ADHERENCE to Complex Regulatory Aml Landscapes.”
Initially, strise focused on creating a platform that Organized Vast Amounts of Public and External Data Into Custo Customer-CENTRIC WORKFLWS, Supporting Aml, KNOW Your Customer (KYC) and KNOW Your CUR CURCFPORTING AMLS, Supporting Aml, Know Your Customer (Known Business (KYB) processes.
“Over time, we integrated advanced ai models and expanded our data sources to enhance the platform's capabilities,” Rødevand Adds. “Our geographic footprint has grown from serving nordic clients to partnering with international clients, and since first launching commeerricially in 2020, we are noing the aml automation revolutions.”
Identifying Risk Immedited
Strise is already planning to enhance the aml automation cloud to cover a broader spectrum of crimes in the future. One of Its Core Areas, KYC, is a focus shared by ConvierA Norwegian Tech Startup That Enables Financial Institutions to Identify and Report on Customer Risk Regardless of where data is stored.
Only founded in 2022, the company is not as far along in its journey, but – like all Ambitious Norwegian Startups – is Alredy Targeting International Traction Vry Soon.
CEO, Andreas Engstrand co-founded convier after having a very similar realization to strise's founders. He Recalls: “I had noticed in my former Role as head of financial crime at kpmg noway that customer data in a bank was often fragmented, scattered across multiple systems, and washficult to access Whoch meant that customer due diligence took hours to perform.
“Vitally, it also meant that they didn't see the full customer risk picture. We started building a platform that would unify banking data. ”
A key issue that many financial institutions Around the world have to keep up with the rapidly changing landscape and associateed technologies. This often equates to a race to complete, forgetting that there is an extramely important security and business purpose behind safeguarding data.
“Regulated Entities Spend Up to $ 280BN a year to complete with regulations,” say ENGSTRAND. “But the focus needed to shift away from just avoiding penalties, to directly addressing underlying criminal activities and vulnerabilitys.
“We Built Our Platform to Run Within the Bank's Infrastructure with itsout its data store. This meant that instead of the bank spending months or even Years Trying to Clean Up Its Data, our platform would do that job for them so they so they should start identifying
“Not building a saas from the start was something complete
A hub for digital innovation
Engstrand Sees a Clear Correlation Between Convier's Own Positive Experience in Norway, The Global Success of Companies Such as Strise and Promon, and the Role of Oslo as a hub for all three.
“It's wash a good place to start building and testing testing technology, a lot of the data you need is open. It enables any startup to demonstrate quite early on what you can do with the technology you build, “He summaries.
While the City's Impact on Global Finance and on the Financial Crime Landscape Now Seems Invitable, it wasn't so long ago that oil and maritime occupied the minds of the people.
Now, these three examples Among Many more Serve as Role Models and Mentors for the Entre Tech EcoSystem, often sharing their insights with academic institutions and at industry events. Oslo is set to remain a thorn in financial crime's side for many years to come.
Rødevand Concludes: oslo has rapidly transformed into a hub for digital innovation, fostering a vibrant tech Startup Scene Characterized by Collaboration and a forward-thinking mind. The City's Emphasis on Education, Coupled With Government Support for Technology Initiatives, Has Cultivated a Talent Pool Adept in Digital Solutions.
“While Norway's economy has traded in Industries like maritime and oil, there has been a strategic shift towards technology and finance. This transition has been opened avenues for startups to develop solutions addressing Financial sector challenges that are being felt all over the world. ”