Fable, a cybersecurity startup focused on preventing human error headquartered in San Francisco, has launched with US$31 million in funding.

This funding includes a US$6.5 million seed round led by Greylock Partners in April 2024 and a US$24.5 million series A led by Redpoint Ventures in May 2024.

The company is valued at US$120 million, as reported by a source familiar with the deal.

Founded in 2024 by Nicole Jiang and Dr. Sanny Liao, Fable aims to enhance workplace cybersecurity through personalized, AI-driven training.

The platform identifies employees in need of improved security practices and delivers tailored advice via Slack, Microsoft Teams, and email.

It also allows IT teams to monitor whether users adopt recommended actions, such as downloading password managers.

Fable serves clients in various sectors, including financial services, healthcare, logistics, and technology.

Notable clients include mortgage provider Pennynac and software company Genesys.

The company has also collaborated with the Democratic National Committee to provide customized security training for campaign staffers.

🔗 Source: Forbes

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Human error remains cybersecurity’s most persistent vulnerability despite decades of awareness

The scale of human-caused breaches reveals why personalized training approaches like Fable’s have emerged as necessary alternatives to traditional methods.

Human error accounts for 95% of cybersecurity breaches, meaning that eliminating human mistakes could prevent 19 out of 20 security incidents1. This statistic has remained consistent across multiple studies, indicating that decades of conventional security awareness training haven’t meaningfully reduced the problem.

The financial stakes are substantial, with the average data breach costing $4 million and American companies facing over $15 million in annual cyber breach costs23. Yet despite these massive losses, traditional training approaches continue to rely on generalized content that employees often ignore.

The persistence of this problem suggests fundamental flaws in how organizations approach security education. Research shows that cyber training can reduce phishing susceptibility by over 40% when properly implemented4, but many current programs fail to achieve this effectiveness because they don’t account for individual employee risk profiles or learning styles.