Feedzai, a CMU Portugal start-up and industry-affiliated partner, was chosen by the European Central Bank (ECB) to safeguard the digital euro with its fraud detection and prevention mechanism, coinciding with the week its valuation hit the $2 billion mark.
The agreement for the risk and fraud management component is valued at an estimated €79.1 million, with a ceiling of €237.3 million. In collaboration with its subcontractor PwC, Feedzai will provide a cutting-edge central fraud detection and prevention system, fully aligned with EU standards on security, privacy, and data protection.
Following the framework agreement conclusion, Feedzai and other successful tenderers will work with the ECB to finalize planning and timelines. Under the guidance of the ECB Governing Council and in line with EU legislation, this work will cover the design, integration, and development of the Digital Euro Service Platform (DESP).
According to Nuno Sebastião, CEO and co-founder of Feedzai, “Being selected as the first-ranked tenderer in the framework agreement to secure the digital euro is both an honor and a responsibility. With tens of billions of transactions expected across the eurozone, success depends on AI that can adapt as quickly as fraud evolves. Our role is to provide the intelligence that keeps even the most sophisticated fraud out, ensuring trust in every digital euro transaction from day one.”
Simultaneously, Feedzai announced a $2 billion valuation after a new $75 million investment round, adding new institutional investors (Lince Capital, Iberis Capital, and Explorer Investments) to the continued support from Oxy Capital and Buenavista Equity Partners.
Read more in Feedzai’s official announcement here.
Feedzai was the 1st startup launched under the CMU Portugal Program, by Paulo Marques, Pedro Bizarro and Nuno Sebastião. Two of its founders, Paulo Marques and Pedro Bizarro, have been heavily involved in the program, having participated in the “Visiting Faculty and Researchers” mobility initiative; Paulo Marques is now one of CMU Portugal’s Scientific Directors.
The company led the Large Scale Collaborative project CAMELOT, in 2020-2022, and it became an industry-affiliated partner of the program. In 2021 became the 2nd Unicorn Company born under the partnership. Recently, in April 2025, Feedzai acquired the Australian company Demyst, a specialist in internal and external data access, for 100 million dollars.
In the Media:
PT: ECO (1, 2), Executive Digest, Jornal de Negócios, Jornal Económico, Observador, Sapo, Sic Notícias.
EN: American Banker, Axios, Finance Feeds, FinTech Global, Reuters, Sharecafe.