By Steven Scheer
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Cyber firm MIND, which protects sensitive data from leaks, said on Wednesday it raised $11 million in an early funding round as it emerges from so-called “stealth mode” after a year of working in secrecy with selected companies.
MIND, whose platform integrates AI and automations to detect and immediately prevent data leaks, noted that in 2020 there were 64.2 zettabytes of data, and by 2030 the data universe could grow more than 10 times – meaning more and more data needing protection.
One zettabyte holds a billion trillion bytes.
MIND Chief Executive Eran Barak noted that billions of records get leaked every year, which is a “major pain point” for companies “and a problem lacking a comprehensive and simplified data security solution for the era of AI.”
Barak and his MIND co-founders Itai Schwartz and Hod Bin Noon previously served as leaders of Israel’s 8200 military intelligence unit. Like many tech firms MIND is U.S.-based with its research and development in Israel.
“While we are happy with AI, and it’s definitely helping us, it’s also causing a lot of challenges,” Barak told Reuters, citing recent data breaches at AT&T, T-Mobile, UnitedHealth and Snowflake.
“We basically make sure you can efficiently use your data using Gen AI apps”, and not fall into the wrong hands.”
The funding round was led by YL Ventures with participation from Adobe, ADT, Crowdstrike and FireEye.
(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by David Holmes)
