W2, a provider of SaaS, B2B software solutions and data services, has secured a series A investment. The investment is for growth capital to fund the expansion of its sales, marketing and technical capability in the UK and international markets.

W2 Global Data (W2), which provides a range of Software as a Service (SaaS) products for the Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti Money Laundering (AML) and fraud prevention due diligence markets,has received Mercia Fund Management’s largest ever Growth Fund investment and a substantial follow on investment from Finance Wales.The rest of the co-investment comes from existing shareholders and Thorium Technology Investors (TTI).

Since 2014, W2 has almost doubled its revenue every year and following this substantial funding round, it is now able to accelerate plans to expand the team, develop new products and extend its global reach.

W2 offers customers the ability to perform real-time identity verification and anti-money laundering checks against consumers and corporates during the process of opening an account.

The company targets firms in the regulated, government and business community across the globe, and is primarily focused on selling to the gaming, payments and foreign exchange markets on multi-year revenue contracts.

Cardiff based W2 was founded by CEO Warren Russell in 2011 after building significant experience in the anti-money laundering, fraud and identity verification markets.

Warren Russell, CEO of W2, said:

“W2 has grown from strength to strength in the last few years and this investment will allow our business to establish its position as a key world player in the field.  We have a rapidly growing customer base and we can support them with an expanding team, creating job opportunities in the local area and further afield.”

Julian Dennard, Investment Director at Mercia Fund Management, said:

“We are delighted to support W2 and back a management team which is highly experienced inin the anti-fraud sector and cloud-based software companies. SaaS technology is one of Mercia’s chosen areas of focus and so we are pleased to be able to support Warren and his team as they continue to scale.”

Richard Thompson, Senior Investment Executive at Finance Wales, said:

“We are delighted to co-invest with Mercia in this latest round to support Warren and his team in the next phase of their expansion. W2 has made impressive progress year-on-year since our initial investments, when they relocated their headquarters to Cardiff. With this investment they are positioned to accelerate their growth as their customers address the increasing regulatory demands companies must now meet.”