The best VC diligence is production traffic. National Bank of Canada didn’t just write a check to Sardine — they deployed first, then led a $25M extension.

What happened

• $25M Series C extension, NAventures (NBC’s CVC) leading
• Multi-year contract across retail, commercial, and wealth
• Total funding: $170M

Why “agentic AI” in fraud isn’t hype here

Sardine’s financial crime agents automate investigation workflows — the bank explicitly cited agentic AI in risk and compliance as category-defining.

Pattern to steal

1. Land pilot with measurable KPIs (fraud caught, false positives down)
2. Convert pilot → enterprise contract
3. CVC doubles down with extension round

Practical takeaway

Founders selling to banks: Your champion needs ops metrics, not security theater.
Investors: Customer-led rounds are the strongest signal in fintech — if the bank writes twice, believe them.

Sources

1. Finextra: https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/47788/national-bank-of-canada-leads-25-million-series-c-extension-in-sardine
2. Fintech Futures: https://www.fintechfutures.com/financial-crime-fraud-prevention/national-bank-of-canada-leads-25m-investment-in-sardine