Numeracle Secures $28M to Protect Business Calls from Spam Tags

McLean, Virginia-based Numeracle has secured $28 million in funding exclusively from Edison Partners to assist businesses whose legitimate phone calls are blocked or incorrectly marked as spam by telecommunication carriers.

The firm verifies corporate identities and connects them to the phone numbers used for customer outreach. It then distributes that verified data to the screening networks utilized by carriers to filter calls, helping to clear erroneous labels.

This latest investment elevates Numeracle’s total capital raised to $34.8 million since its establishment in 2018. According to founder and CEO Rebekah Johnson in an interview, that aggregate figure includes a $6.8 million Series A round secured in December 2023. Edison served as the exclusive investor for this newest financing phase, though the company opted not to reveal its current valuation.

Numeracle reports having roughly 4,000 corporate clients and a workforce of about 85 individuals. The enterprise achieved profitability this year, realizing that milestone ahead of Johnson’s initial projections.

The enterprise intends to deploy the fresh capital toward recruitment and global expansion. Furthermore, Numeracle aims to adapt its corporate verification technology for applications extending beyond standard phone calls. Johnson noted that the firm is actively evaluating messaging channels, chat applications, digital marketplaces, and AI agents.

This growth arrives as organizations simultaneously grapple with two interconnected challenges. On one hand, fraudsters increasingly attempt to impersonate legitimate entities. Simultaneously, automated call-screening systems can inadvertently block those same organizations’ authentic calls from reaching intended recipients.

As a result, a patient might overlook a phone call from a medical facility regarding a scheduled procedure. In the banking sector, a consumer might dismiss a valid inquiry because the handset displays a fraud warning.

Numeracle charges an annual subscription to oversee and rectify incorrect spam designations. Clients can also opt for a per-call charge to display their corporate name, brand logo, and specific reason for calling directly on the recipient’s display.

From a regulatory warning to a company

Johnson, an engineer who formerly specialized in regulatory compliance at telecommunications provider West, stated she identified the issue while participating on the Federal Communications Commission’s Robocall Strike Force back in 2016.

She cautioned carriers that their initiatives to flag unwanted calls would inevitably impact legitimate companies because those screening mechanisms lacked accurate insight regarding caller identities.

Approximately three months afterward, she received a phone call from a carrier’s federal regulatory counsel while standing in her parents’ kitchen.

“Everything you said was going to happen is happening. What do we do?” she recalled him asking.

Johnson noted that specific exchange served as the catalyst for launching Numeracle.

At the time, she was a newly single mother who had lost her employment and invested her personal savings to establish the enterprise. Residing on a farm in Grand Bay, Alabama, lacking internet service, she operated out of local cafes.

“When you need to feed your children and provide a roof over their head, you’re going to count every penny,” Johnson remarked.

That foundational period influenced her financial discipline as Numeracle expanded, she explained. The enterprise functioned independently for several years prior to securing its Series A round.

Johnson mentioned that approximately 90% of Numeracle’s sales inquiries originate from unpaid inbound channels. Armed with the new capital, she intends to increase expenditures on targeted marketing tailored to specific sectors, including healthcare.

The firm’s client base also encompasses organizations within financial services, home services, higher education, government bodies, and charitable foundations, though Johnson declined to name specific accounts.

Verifying increasingly convincing fakes

Numeracle initially validates that an enterprise is legitimate and performs its stated operations. Once those criteria are satisfied, the company links the entity to its designated telephone numbers and supplies that documentation to systems utilized by carriers to flag or restrict communications.

External organizations can also pay Numeracle to perform these validation checks on corporate entities they are evaluating for customer onboarding.

Johnson explained that Numeracle engineered its proprietary validation framework because pre-existing alternatives lacked adequate depth. Fraudsters possess strong incentives to bypass filters because successful clearance by Numeracle makes their calls significantly less prone to spam categorization.

Artificial intelligence has complicated the task of distinguishing authentic enterprises, she added. Numeracle has encountered fraudulent organizations featuring genuine state registrations, employer identification numbers, and fabricated employees equipped with active LinkedIn profiles.

“The scary part for me isn’t necessarily the AI voices,” Johnson stated. “It’s actually AI-built businesses.”

She noted that Numeracle leverages artificial intelligence to assist in detecting those fabrications, though she chose not to elaborate on the exact mechanics.

Numeracle presently functions within the United States. Johnson noted that inbound interest from Europe has spurred the company to advance its international development objectives, with a portion of the recent financing allocated toward that initiative.

The broader strategic question facing the enterprise is whether organizations will invest in verification services spanning alternative communication mediums. Presently, its commercial focus remains centered on addressing the immediate challenge of helping recipients identify authentic phone calls.

Investor POV: ‘Doing more with less’

For Lenard Marcus, general partner at Edison Partners, Johnson’s background in telecommunications and engineering served as a primary rationale for the investment. During an interview with Crunchbase News, he indicated that her industry expertise enabled her to construct both the offering and the industry connections required to secure clients.

He was equally impressed by what Numeracle achieved with minimal capital, characterizing Johnson as “someone who was frankly doing more with less.”

Conversations with existing clients reinforced the investment rationale. Marcus recalled a contact center operator who noted that Numeracle successfully raised answered calls from 19,000 to 22,000 out of a monthly total of 40,000. For enterprises attempting to reach prospective buyers, that lift in connected conversations can translate directly into enhanced revenue.

Marcus also asserted that Johnson’s extensive tenure in telecommunications grants Numeracle a competitive advantage over emerging rivals. Alongside a thorough comprehension of how distinct industry segments interact, Johnson has leveraged those professional connections to secure access to major corporations, he observed.

“She’s sales. She’s engineering, and she’s just a very, very good leader,” Marcus stated.

Looking forward, the investor anticipates robust demand across healthcare, retail, home services, and financial sectors, especially as artificial intelligence drives an increase in fraudulent impersonations.

“This is a communications problem, not one for one industry,” he concluded.

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Illustration: Dom Guzman

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Numeracle do?

Numeracle verifies legitimate businesses and links their identities to the phone numbers they use to contact customers, sharing that information with telecom carriers to help remove or prevent incorrect spam labels and call blocks.

How much funding has Numeracle raised?

Numeracle has raised a total of $34.8 million since its inception in 2018, which includes a recent $28 million round from Edison Partners and a $6.8 million Series A raised in December 2023.

How does Numeracle make money?

The company charges an annual subscription fee to monitor and address incorrect spam labels, and customers can also pay a per-call fee to display their business name, logo, and reason for calling on the recipient’s phone.

Why are AI-built businesses a challenge?

According to CEO Rebekah Johnson, fraudsters are using AI to create convincing fake companies complete with state registrations, employer identification numbers, and active LinkedIn profiles, making it harder to tell real businesses from fakes.

Where does Numeracle plan to expand?

With its new capital, Numeracle plans to hire more staff, expand internationally into Europe based on growing interest from the region, and adapt its verification tools for use beyond phone calls.