Why Centana Invested in CertifID: Protecting One of Life’s Largest Transactions
Author: Eric Byunn | Co-Authors: Jack Babbush, Marshall Cao
Buying a home is one of the biggest financial and emotional milestones in a person’s life. It’s where families are raised, memories are made, and importantly, where people invest their life savings. On average, Americans have 60% of their net worth tied to their primary residence1. However, the American dream of homeownership is increasingly being threatened, not just by soaring prices and limited inventory, but by a quieter, more insidious force: wire fraud. As consumers demand greater convenience including mobile and virtual transactions for all things including real estate, the risk of wire fraud has ballooned into a vulnerability that threatens consumers, real estate professionals, and the integrity of the industry itself. Meanwhile, the average American homebuyer is ill-equipped to detect the sophisticated fraud attempts that now challenge real estate deals.
Today, we’re proud to announce our Series C investment in CertifID, a leading real estate fraud prevention company having protected over a million transactions to date and prevented nearly $1.3bn in wire fraud loss in 2024.
A Perfect Storm: How Real Estate Closings Became a Feeding Ground for Cybercrime
To understand the problem, it helps to walk through what actually happens in a real estate closing.
Once an offer is accepted, there’s a flurry of activity including title companies running searches, lenders finalizing financing, and agents coordinating logistics. Buyers, sellers, agents, attorneys, title officers, loan officers and others are working together to quickly close details and coordinate wire instructions for transactions which often involve multiple transfers of hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.
What most people don’t realize is this: Cybercriminals are targeting that same real estate closing process, spending more time and resources to defraud the parties by diverting those funds to their own accounts.
Real estate closings are becoming cybercriminals’ favorite target for several reasons: Information on pending real estate transactions being readily available online, large sums of money being moved, the one-time nature of these transactions, which are frequently with not-previously-known counterparties, and wire instructions usually exchanged electronically (e.g., email) which is much easier to intercept or spoof. Once cybercriminals spot pending transactions, they can monitor inboxes, spoof domains, and wait for just the right moment to pounce—often with a fake email that looks exactly like the real thing. “Your wiring instructions have changed. Please use this updated account.” That’s it. One small misstep, and a homebuyer’s life savings vanishes, or title agents send the money to the fraudster account-which could bankrupt their business. It’s no surprise that losses from business email compromise (BEC) in real estate hit $446 million in 2022 (up 73% since 2020), and that the median loss per victim was over $100,0002.
CertifID Combats Wire Fraud
CertifID is dedicated to preventing real estate wire fraud with advanced software, insurance, payments, and proven recovery services. Their platform orchestrates the secure flow of information and funds across the entire closing process. With CertifID, title agents, attorneys, and other real estate professionals can securely request and share wiring instructions and validate identities and account details. Further, CertifID can help protect transactions with insurance3, and even recover stolen funds when incidents do occur. In an age where cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated, CertifID is helping businesses offload error-prone, manual, human efforts and protect customers in their most vulnerable moments.
Centana’s Experience in the Fraud Prevention, Payment and Insurance Ecosystems
Centana has significant expertise supporting companies focused on fraud prevention, payments and insurance. Prior investments in the space include Jumio (ID verification & KYC), Sayari (KYB / beneficial ownership), SpyCloud (identity threat protection), and One Inc (insurance payments). We are thrilled to be partnering with Tyler Adams, the CEO of CertifID. Our team has had the privilege of getting to know Tyler since 2021 and has witnessed Tyler assembling an incredible leadership team and successfully executing on his vision. We have enjoyed working with Tyler and building a foundation of trust that led us to invest with strong conviction in his vision: a world without wire fraud.
What’s Ahead for CertifID
Cybercrime isn’t just growing—it’s evolving. Fraudsters are no longer lone actors sending typo-riddled emails from suspicious accounts. Today’s threats are orchestrated by organized groups using AI to mimic voices, generate convincing spoofed messages, and hijack trusted relationships at scale. As generative AI becomes more accessible, we expect social engineering attacks to become faster, more personalized, and harder to detect. The real estate industry—already fragmented and under-digitized—faces a crossroads: either modernize its security infrastructure, or continue exposing consumers and professionals to rising levels of financial and reputational risk. We believe the market will increasingly demand secure-by-design platforms that combine real-time intelligence, automation, and built-in protection—and CertifID is at the forefront of this shift.
At Centana, we invest in companies that build trust at scale, and strive to help them realize their visions. CertifID is setting a new standard for what a secure, seamless real estate closing should look like—backed by real protections, not just disclaimers and best-effort emails.
We’re thrilled to join them on the journey.
[1] Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. (2023). Changes in U.S. family finances from 2019 to 2022: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances.
[2] Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center. (2023). Business e-mail compromise: The $50 billion scam
[3]Coverage limits, terms, and conditions apply. Please refer to CertifID’s policy documentation or contact the company for full details on coverage eligibility and limitations.
Important Disclosures
The information contained herein is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice or an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product.
This document contains forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ.
Performance metrics and market statistics referenced in this document are based on historical data and past performance does not guarantee future results.
