Baran Ozkan

Baran Ozkan is a Turkish entrepreneur and engineer whose journey from software development to fintech led him to co-found Flagright, one of the fastest-growing AI-native AML compliance platforms in the world. Originally from Turkey, Baran trained as an engineer and moved to the United States for his Master's degree, where he worked as a software engineer across healthcare, logistics, e-commerce, and financial services. His pivotal experience came when he served as Director of Product at a remittance company, spending over a year searching for a reliable, real-time transaction monitoring solution — only to find that incumbent providers consistently overpromised and underdelivered. That frustration became the founding insight for Flagright.

In 2022, Baran and co-founder Madhu Nadig launched Flagright, gaining acceptance to Y Combinator's Winter 2022 batch and rapidly expanding to serve clients across six continents. Flagright's AI-native platform provides financial institutions with real-time transaction monitoring, dynamic risk scoring, automated case management, and AML screening — achieving a 93% reduction in false positive alerts and an 87% reduction in manual monitoring effort for its customers. The company has been recognised as Europe's fastest-growing AML compliance platform by Sifted in 2025 and named to the RegTech100 for three consecutive years.

In March 2025, Flagright closed a $4.3 million seed round led by Frontline Ventures, with continued backing from Y Combinator, Pioneer Fund, and Moonfire Ventures. The funding has enabled the launch of Flagright's AI Forensics product suite and expansion into new offices in London, New York, and San Francisco. Baran holds the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) designation and is based in Singapore, where Flagright's global headquarters is located.