By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Cybersecurity firm MIND, which protects sensitive data from leaks, said on Wednesday it had raised $11 million in a first round of funding as it exits so-called “stealth mode” after a year of working in secret with selected companies.

MIND, whose platform integrates AI and automations to immediately detect and prevent data leaks, noted that in 2020, there were 64.2 zettabytes of data and that by 2030, the universe Data could grow more than 10 times, meaning more and more data needs to be protected.

A zettabyte contains a billion billion bytes.

MIND CEO Eran Barak noted that billions of documents are leaked each year, which is a “major problem” for businesses “and a problem in the absence of a comprehensive and comprehensive data security solution.” simplified in the age of AI”.

Barak and his MIND co-founders, Itai Schwartz and Hod Bin Noon, previously led Israeli military intelligence unit 8200. Like many technology companies, MIND is based in the United States and conducts its research and development in Israel.

“While we are happy with AI, and it certainly helps us, it also poses many challenges,” Barak told Reuters, citing recent data breaches at AT&T, T-Mobile, UnitedHealth and Snowflake.

“We’re basically making sure that you can use your data effectively using Gen AI applications” 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)