Traced, an Oxford-based innovator in AI-powered mobile security, has received a further £400,000 in seed investment from previous investors, including Lord Brownlow CVO DL and Benjamin Rawson, and new investors from Henley Business Angels.
Traced delivers cybersecurity powered by artificial intelligence to protect businesses from data breaches and cyber attacks originating from employees’ smartphones and tablets. This is the company’s third successful round of funding, demonstrating the continued importance of cybersecurity to British businesses. In fact, it’s been a record year for the UK cyber security market, valued at over £8.9 billion[1].
Between 2016 and 2020, mobile cyberattacks increased by 1,400%[2], putting businesses at risk of data breaches, ransomware, reputational damage and regulatory fines. Businesses are faced with the choice of either spending thousands of pounds to provide employees with corporate mobile phones or allowing their employees to access sensitive company data on personal devices, which are open to cyberattacks such as viruses, attacks over WiFi networks, and phishing. Traced helps businesses go beyond just meeting regulatory compliance by actively protecting them against data breaches, without invading employees’ privacy.
Traced Control is a mobile threat defence (MTD) solution that uses artificial intelligence to catch even those threats that have not been seen before. It combines an administrative console that provides employee-privacy focused compliance reporting, and the option to dig deeper into organisational risk, with the Traced apps for iOS and Android that provide user-friendly on-device threat protection. At a price of just £9-15 per year per device, and the advantage of being free of third-party software unlike many of their competitors, Traced already has 175k app downloads and glowing reviews on the app stores.
This next round of investment will enable Traced to further develop Control and the underlying threat detection model, keeping ahead of threat actors’ evolving tactics. Traced also plans to expand its sales and marketing functions in the UK and internationally, targeting more than £1m sales in FY23.
Benedict Jones, Co-founder, CEO and Director of Traced, said
“Businesses – particularly small and medium businesses with limited security budgets or expertise – are increasingly exposed to the risks of cyberattacks and data breaches. This investment, combined with the wealth of expertise that our new investors bring to the team will enable us to protect more businesses.”
Investor Lord Brownlow CVO DL commented:
“I’m delighted to show my support for Traced with further investment. As data becomes more valuable the need for forthright, painless mobile security is paramount to business resilience.”
Jurek Sikorski, Founder and Director of Henley Business Angels, praised Traced’s innovation, adding,
“Protecting against the ever-growing cyberthreat on mobile phones has emerged as a priority for many businesses and an opportunity for investment, which HBA members are delighted to participate in.”
References
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/record-year-for-uks-89bn-cyber-security-sector
[2] https://www.trendmicro.com/en_gb/about/newsroom/press-releases/2020/2020-05-12-trend-micro-reports-solid-q1-earnings-to-kick–off-2020.html
About Traced
Traced’s vision is to provide mobile security without compromising employee privacy. It’s about shining a light on mobile threats that are invisible to traditional forms of detection. It’s about making sure mobile threat defence protects people by being easy to understand, effective and affordably priced. Traced was crowned “Best Emerging Startup” in Just Entrepreneurs Startup Growth Awards 2020, and Bronze at the 2021 Cyber Security Global Excellence Awards.