LeapXpert Lands $180M From Riverwood Capital

LeapXpert, a startup that helps companies govern employee messaging on WhatsApp, iMessage, and WeChat, raised $180 million in a growth round led by Riverwood Capital. The New York-based company said the funding will expand its platform and sales team.

Enterprise messaging has become a compliance headache. LeapXpert’s software archives conversations and applies rules for retention and security. The company counts several large financial institutions among its clients, though it didn’t name them.

The $180 million round is one of the largest in the enterprise compliance space this year. Riverwood, a growth equity firm focused on tech, led the investment. LeapXpert didn’t disclose a valuation.

The funding follows a wave of regulatory fines for off-channel messaging. The Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies have fined banks and brokerages for employees using WhatsApp and Signal without proper record-keeping. LeapXpert sells a layer that sits between messaging apps and a firm’s record-keeping systems, capturing texts and images, then applying policies for archiving and review. The company calls it governed communication intelligence.

The round included existing investors, though LeapXpert didn’t name them. The company has raised about $250 million to date, including this round.

The deal reflects a broader shift. Banks and law firms are moving away from banning WhatsApp to managing it. LeapXpert competes with companies like Movius and TeleMessage in the compliance messaging market.

The company said it will use the cash to build out its AI capabilities for compliance monitoring and to expand into Asia and Europe. LeapXpert’s growth will test whether the market for governed messaging is large enough to sustain a standalone platform.