Australian open-source intelligence (OSINT) software company Fivecast announced it has raised almost US$20 million (AU$30) in a Series A funding round, which it plans to invest in expansion and service contracts in key markets including Five Eyes nations, amid a significant rise in the need for data and risk analytics among governments and corporations.
Fivecast will use the funds to build out its product portfolio and drive growth in the Five Eyes community following strong momentum in Australia, a surge in demand in the US, and the establishment of its UK office. The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance established in 1941 between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US.
The company is also targeting the Asia Pacific region and Europe, and is adding further capabilities in adjacent use cases such as corporate security and financial intelligence.
Fivecast plans to continue recruitment of industry professionals, including tradecraft experts, developers, and sales and marketing personnel at its four offices, where over 100 work currently.
“This Series A funding ensures we can continue building advanced capabilities to support our customers’ targeted objectives, and add headcount to service markets across the globe – particularly in Australia, the US and the UK,” Fivecast CEO and Co-Founder Brenton Cooper said.
The funding round was led by US-based cybersecurity venture capital firm Ten Eleven, with additional investment from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization’s (CSIRO), Main Sequence and the South Australian Venture Capital Fund.
“We see OSINT as a large and emerging sector driven by the explosion of publicly available content, now growing ever-larger via the newly accessible AI-generated multimedia content platforms,” Ten Eleven Ventures managing partner Alex Doll said, adding that the fund plans further investment in Australia in the years ahead.
This round of investment takes Fivecast’s total funding received to AU$34 million.
“Deep tech is boundless in its ability to create safer societies through research, data and advanced capabilities that tackle among the most pressing challenges we face,” said Martin Duursma, Partner at Main Sequence Ventures.
Established in 2017, Fivecast was born out of a collaboration between government agencies and leading research institutions, providing OSINT technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for defense, intelligence, police, border security and corporations. Its software enables the targeted collection and risk analysis of publicly available information for specific use cases, such as identifying extremists, terrorists, drug trafficking and organized crime.
Fivecast is an Australian Government Defense Industry Security Program (DISP) member, maintains UK Cyber Essentials certification, its software products are NIST 800-171 compliant, and its executive, tradecraft, and development teams hold security clearances for Australia, the US and UK. Fivecast is also the first Australian company to be awarded a Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) project with the US Department of Defense.
Image source: Fivecast LinkedIn Press release source: Cision PR Newswire
