Open-source intelligence (OSINT) software program startup Fivecast, has raised US$20 million (AU$30m) in a Sequence A.
The Adelaide-based intelligence gathering platform scans publicly out there information, together with social media websites and the darkish net, to determine threats starting from extremists to terrorists, drug trafficking and organised crime.
The spherical was led by US cybersecurity VC Ten Eleven, supported by current backers Major Sequence, , CSIRO’s deep tech fund, and South Australian Enterprise Capital Fund.
It takes the entire funding raised by the corporate to A$34 million.
The money is earmarked for increasing and servicing current contracts, together with with the 5 Eyes nations – Australia, New Zealand, Canada, US and UK. The intelligence gathering service can also be focusing on the Asia Pacific area and Europe and seeking to transfer into company safety and monetary intelligence.
Fivecast was constructed as a collaboration between authorities businesses, the platform makes use of AI and ML for focused assortment and threat evaluation intelligence for defence, intelligence companies, police, border safety and companies.
CEO and cofounder Dr Brenton Cooper stated the sheer quantity of knowledge out there on-line makes it tough for intelligence personnel to gather, filter and analyse information in a well timed vogue
“Our platform allows prospects to battle the proliferation of threats, pierce via refined on-line landscapes, and velocity up investigations to guard international communities and organisations.
“Since our founding in 2017, we’ve enabled authorities businesses and companies to determine threats, scale back dangers and mitigate incidents throughout a various vary of use circumstances – from divisive US politics influencing violent extremism and China’s affect within the South pacific, via to crypto scams and cash laundering.”
Ten Eleven Ventures managing associate Alex Doll stated they see OSINT as a big and rising sector pushed by the explosion of publicly out there content material
“Governments, regulation enforcement, and different organisations want a quicker and simpler approach to accumulate and analyse this open-source information,” he stated.
“Fivecast’s superior assortment strategies and AI-supported evaluation instruments bypass present guide information evaluation processes to fulfill this essential want. Notably, that is our second funding in Australia, a rustic we all know has large entrepreneurial and technical expertise. We’ll make extra investments in Australia within the years forward and look ahead to serving to bridge the nation’s unimaginable tech to different markets.”