SG cybersecurity startup nabs $7m to shield SEA with ‘dark web intelligence’

Photo credit: StealthMole

Southeast Asia’s rapid growth in digitalization has had a flipside: an increase in cyberthreats. These include attacks from hacker groups like Sharp Panda, APT32, and Dark Pink, which have become more common in the region.

This presents an opportunity for the cybersecurity sector, with the market in Southeast Asia projected to reach US$4.5 billion in value this year.

One company in the space is Singapore based startup StealthMole, an AI-powered dark web intelligence company. Initially developed to help criminal investigations, the company has since found growing demand in the B2B space to mitigate cybercrime, which costs organizations in the region billions annually.

To capitalize on that, StealthMole has announced a US$7 million series A funding round. Korea Investment Partners led the round, with Hibiscus Fund and Smilegate Investment participating.

The startup will use the fresh funding to expand into new markets and further develop its technology for broader commercial applications.

StealthMole’s AI platform analyzes over 255 billion data points from the dark web, deep web, and hidden sources. This enables early threat detection, criminal tracking, and cyber incident response.

“StealthMole came about from a critical market gap I encountered while working in cybersecurity and white-hat hacking: a severe lack of data points and information networks specifically within Asia,” said co-founder Louis Hur, who co-founded the company in 2022 with fellow cybersecurity veteran Simon Choi.

Hur added that to better understand digital threats, it’s crucial “to analyze regional contexts and their impact on illicit activities.”

See also: Mapping out SEA’s digital defenders (update)