With the rise of misinformation, especially given the explosion of AI, companies are just as vulnerable to its effects as individuals. Refute is a London-based startup that detects and responds to misinformation on behalf of these commercial entities. It has now raised a £2.3 million ($2.9 million) pre-seed round led by UK investors. play fair and Episode 1.
There are many factors fueling disinformation attacks, such as geopolitical instability and the use of generative AI to create misleading content.
More sophisticated campaigns – often created by commercial competitors or sponsored by the state – target companies, their supply chains and even their executives. The result can have a huge financial and reputational impact.
Tom Garnett, co-founder and CEO of Refute, told britcommerce: “We find that existing clients often use social and media monitoring tools to try to understand the threat of misinformation. But these are passive tools generally designed for marketing purposes… In our experience, such signals are misleading, as noise levels are high and narrative provenance is obscured. The result is that users are not prepared to understand (and therefore address) the full threat picture.”
Clearly, this is a growing space, as several new companies have emerged to attack this market. Refute’s competitors include Alethea (raised $30 million), Blackbird AI ($30.6 million), and Logically AI ($36.7 million).
However, Garnett said, “We provide both the detection and response portion of the solution. “This differentiates us in the market, as other approaches focus primarily on detection.”
Refute finds disinformation campaigns by detecting the behaviors of an adversary called “threat actors.”
Garnett began his career in national security at Detica and BAE Systems, where he developed large-scale data analytics solutions to investigate criminal activity with a focus on terrorist attacks.
He realized that a similar underlying technology could be used to combat criminal activity in the commercial sector, including cyberattacks and financial crimes: “This led me to lead the government and cybersecurity business at Ripjar: selling, building and delivering solutions for technology companies. financial services, oil and gas and government clients.”
Its co-founder, Vlad Galu, grew up in Romania in the 1980s and 1990s, experiencing firsthand the threat of misinformation. He told britcommerce: “I started building basic internet infrastructure and services in Romania and Central and Eastern Europe… Building everything from scratch during a time of emerging technology and limited legal frameworks meant we had to implement layered defense strategies against threats directed at both platforms and at the end. -users”.
Notion Capital and Amadeus Capital Partners also participated in the round. Refute also received angel investments from investors Charlie Songhurst, Carlos Espinal, James Chappell and Alastair Paterson.
Andrew Sheffield, director of Playfair Capital, said in a statement: “The information landscape is changing – it is harder than ever to distinguish fact from fiction, and the cost of spreading misleading content continues to fall… Tom and Vlad own more than forty years of experience. experience in data analysis, cybersecurity, combating terrorist attacks, identity management and money laundering.”