StealthMole, an AI-powered darkish net intelligence startup that makes a speciality of monitoring cyber threats and detecting cybercrime, introduced Thursday that it has raised a $7 million Sequence A funding spherical.
The Singapore-headquartered startup with an R&D workplace in South Korea will use the recent capital to determine extra R&D facilities and help extra industrial makes use of of its expertise within the B2B sector and geographical enlargement.
“Having an R&D workplace in South Korea permits us to achieve important insights into how hackers from East Asia function,” Simon Choi, chief expertise officer (CTO) at StealthMole, informed TechCrunch. “Equally, having researchers from varied backgrounds in Singapore for Southeast Asia, or in different distinctive places, will support us in analyzing information associated to neighboring international locations.”
StealthMole was co-founded in 2022 by Louis Hur (CEO), an enterprise IT safety skilled and serial entrepreneur in cybersecurity, and Choi (CTO), a risk investigator and open supply intelligence (OSINT) profiler who beforehand labored as an adviser for the Nationwide Intelligence Service South Korea, the Nationwide Police Company, and the Ministry of Nationwide Protection in South Korea.
The startup serves over 50 shoppers throughout 17 international locations in Asia, Europe, and the Center East. Its present buyer base largely consists of authorities and legislation enforcement businesses for nationwide safety and cybersecurity groups inside enterprises, which handle cybersecurity incidents, analyze threats, and supply cybersecurity steering and help.
“StealthMole happened from a important market hole I encountered whereas working in cybersecurity and white-hat hacking: a extreme lack of information factors and data networks, particularly inside Asia,” Hur stated within the firm’s assertion. “On the similar time, information leaks, anonymized transactions, and all method of cybercrimes have been spiking — each because of malicious intent and human error. To raised perceive digital threats, it’s essential for legislation enforcement, intelligence businesses, company safety groups, and cybersecurity consultants to analyse regional contexts and their influence on illicit actions.”
The outfit says it traces criminals utilizing 255 billion analyzed information factors from the darkish net, deep net and varied hidden sources, together with leaked databases, cybercriminals’ blogs and Telegram.
One differentiator from its rivals within the cybersecurity business is its distinctive experience in Asia-related threats, Kevin Yoo, chief working officer (COO) at StealthMole, informed TechCrunch. In line with a report by Test Level Analysis, Asia witnessed the very best year-on-year surge in weekly cyberattacks within the first quarter of 2023 because of fast digital transformation; the rise of the hybrid workforce and Asia’s manufacturing business, like semiconductors that maintain mental property, may very well be a goal for cyber espionage.
“The excessive demand for Asia-oriented risk info underscores the distinctiveness and worth of our dataset for purchasers worldwide, inside and past Asia,” Yoo stated.
Korea Funding Companions led the Sequence A spherical with participation from Hibiscus Fund (a three way partnership between RHL Ventures, Penjana Kapital and KB Funding) and Smilegate Funding.
