MIND Emerges from Stealth Mode with $11 Million Funding to Revolutionize AI-Powered Data Loss Prevention

Data Loss Prevention Firm MIND Emerges From 'Stealth Mode' to Raise $11 Million

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)

Data loss prevention firm MIND emerges from 'stealth mode' to raise $11 mln

JERUSALEM, Oct 30 (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 Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Data Loss Prevention Startup MIND Emerges From Stealth With $11M in Funding to Revolutionize Data Security

The extensive use of Gen AI apps like OpenAI ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot leads to the accidental exposure and sprawl of highly sensitive data SEATTLE, October 30, 2024 (Newswire.com) - MIND™, the upcoming leader in data loss prevention (DLP), emerged today from stealth and revealed its breakthrough platform to enable organizations to protect their most sensitive data. MIND raised $11 million in seed round funding led by YL Ventures with participation from leaders of public cybersecurity companies In today's digital world, the risk of important data falling into the wrong hands has never been greater. Increasing data volume, diverse applications and storage options, and constant accessibility all contribute to newfound levels of data complexity. Adding to that, using Generative AI apps, such as OpenAI ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Anthropic Claude, and Google Gemini, the amount of data is going to grow exponentially. In 2020, there were 64.2 zettabytes of data, and by 2030, the data universe could grow more than 10 times. According to research by Gartner, 90% of all new enterprise data is unstructured data, growing three times the pace of structured data. Within each of these unstructured data files is a plethora of sensitive and confidential data such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, credentials, encryption keys, source code, bank statements, contracts, tax forms, invoices, payroll reports, intellectual property documents, etc. The lack of visibility across IT environments, reliance on manual and static DLP policies, difficulty identifying sensitive data due to basic classification processes, and insufficient context and risk assessment all contribute to the stress and failures of today's DLP programs -- especially trying to protect unstructured data. "As billions of records get leaked every year, we recognize it as one of the major pain points for companies and a problem lacking a comprehensive and simplified data security solution for the era of AI," said Eran Barak, Co-Founder and CEO of MIND. "MIND enables organizations to mind what really matters by taking a new approach to data security that uniquely melds both the visibility of data risks and the actionability of stopping data leaks - holistically addressing sensitive data at rest, in motion, and in use. Our customers have dramatically reduced the resources needed to implement effective DLP programs that truly deliver on both security and compliance needs, leading to much greater efficiency and productivity." MIND was founded in 2023 by Eran Barak, who previously founded Hexadite which was later acquired by Microsoft, Itai Schwartz, Co-Founder and CTO, who was the first employee at Torq, a security automation startup, and at Axonius, an asset management unicorn startup, and Hod Bin Noon, Co-Founder and VP of R&D, who was the first employee at Dazz, specializing in real-time vulnerability detection and remediation. The co-founders have decades of cyber experience and served in leadership roles in the prestigious Israeli Military Intelligence Unit 8200. MIND is an intelligent DLP platform that integrates AI and smart automations for the first comprehensive data security solution of its kind, so you can automatically identify, detect, and prevent data leaks at machine speed. At the core of the platform is MIND AI which puts DLP and insider risk management (IRM) programs on autopilot to autonomously monitor billions of data events 24x7 in real-time, dramatically reduce false positives and noisy alerts, and effectively streamline headcount needed. MIND AI is made of hundreds of tailored algorithms and a proprietary AI engine to classify and categorize sensitive unstructured data understand context-aware business views to determine risk severity, and take automated prevention and remediation actions. MIND continuously discovers and classifies sensitive data across various IT workloads including SaaS and Gen AI apps, endpoints, on-premises systems, and emails; ensuring a complete inventory of data, users, and activities. Unlike conventional DLP tools in the industry, MIND protects sensitive data -- at rest, in motion, and in use. "MIND's platform is the new, unified, comprehensive approach to addressing data leakage issues that threaten every company today," said Justin Somaini, Partner at YL Ventures. "With a visionary leadership team and innovative technology, MIND is well-positioned to lead the DLP sector and face evolving cyber threats." "The market urgently needs a robust solution to manage the ever-expanding sources of sensitive data across small businesses and large enterprises," said Ryan Fritts, Chief Information Officer at Everon and former Chief Information Security Officer at ADT. "MIND's platform provides the first truly comprehensive approach to secure data, enabling companies to focus on innovation and sustainable growth with complete peace of mind. It delivers immediate value for security and IT teams by requiring dramatically fewer resources and headcount needed to manage and run their DLP programs." About MIND MIND is on a mission to help organizations thrive in a digital world in the AI era by protecting their most sensitive information. MIND is the first-ever data security platform that puts data loss prevention (DLP) and insider risk management (IRM) programs on autopilot to automatically protect sensitive information, mitigate risk, and preserve brand reputation. We enable businesses to mind what really matters -- their most sensitive data. Founded and led by cybersecurity leaders and industry veterans, MIND is based out of Seattle, WA. For more information, contact us at [email protected].