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 Sequence 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 help extra business makes use of of its expertise within the B2B sector and geographical growth.
“Having an R&D workplace in South Korea permits us to achieve vital insights into how hackers from East Asia function,” Simon Choi, chief expertise officer (CTO) at StealthMole, instructed TechCrunch. “Equally, having researchers from varied backgrounds in Singapore for Southeast Asia, or in different distinctive areas, will assist us in analyzing information associated to neighboring international locations.”
StealthMole was co-founded in 2022 by Louis Hur (CEO), an enterprise IT safety professional 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 purchasers 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 steerage and help.
“StealthMole took place from a vital 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 identical time, information leaks, anonymized transactions, and all method of cybercrimes have been spiking — each as a consequence 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 internet, deep internet and varied hidden sources, together with leaked databases, cybercriminals’ blogs and Telegram.
One differentiator from its opponents within the cybersecurity trade is its distinctive experience in Asia-related threats, Kevin Yoo, chief working officer (COO) at StealthMole, instructed TechCrunch. Based on a report by Examine Level Analysis, Asia witnessed the best year-on-year surge in weekly cyberattacks within the first quarter of 2023 as a consequence of speedy digital transformation; the rise of the hybrid workforce and Asia’s manufacturing trade, 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 individuality and worth of our dataset for purchasers worldwide, inside and past Asia,” Yoo mentioned.
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.
