StealthMole, an AI-powered darkish internet intelligence startup that focuses on monitoring cyber threats and detecting cybercrime, introduced Thursday that it has raised a $7 million Collection A funding spherical.
The Singapore-headquartered startup with an R&D workplace in South Korea will use the recent capital to ascertain extra R&D facilities and assist extra industrial makes use of of its know-how within the B2B sector and geographical enlargement.
“Having an R&D workplace in South Korea permits us to achieve essential insights into how hackers from East Asia function,” Simon Choi, chief know-how officer (CTO) at StealthMole, advised TechCrunch. “Equally, having researchers from varied backgrounds in Singapore for Southeast Asia, or in different distinctive areas, will assist us in analyzing knowledge 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 menace 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 principally consists of authorities and regulation enforcement companies for nationwide safety and cybersecurity groups inside enterprises, which handle cybersecurity incidents, analyze threats, and supply cybersecurity steering and assist.
“StealthMole took place from a essential market hole I encountered whereas working in cybersecurity and white-hat hacking: a extreme lack of knowledge factors and data networks, particularly inside Asia,” Hur mentioned within the firm’s assertion. “On the similar time, knowledge leaks, anonymized transactions, and all method of cybercrimes have been spiking — each attributable to malicious intent and human error. To raised perceive digital threats, it’s essential for regulation enforcement, intelligence companies, company safety groups, and cybersecurity consultants to analyse regional contexts and their affect on illicit actions.”
The outfit says it traces criminals utilizing 255 billion analyzed knowledge factors from the darkish internet, deep internet 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, advised TechCrunch. Based on a report by Verify Level Analysis, Asia witnessed the very best year-on-year surge in weekly cyberattacks within the first quarter of 2023 attributable to 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 menace info underscores the distinctiveness and worth of our dataset for patrons worldwide, inside and past Asia,” Yoo mentioned.
Korea Funding Companions led the Collection A spherical with participation from Hibiscus Fund (a three way partnership between RHL Ventures, Penjana Kapital and KB Funding) and Smilegate Funding.
