press launch
Lakera, the world’s main real-time Generative AI (GenAI) safety firm, has raised $20M in a Series A funding spherical. Led by European VC Atomico, with participation from present traders together with Citi Ventures, Dropbox Ventures and redalpine, the funding brings Lakera’s complete funding to $30M. This funding positions Lakera on the forefront of the worldwide economic system’s race to safe GenAI purposes. As a part of the spherical, Atomico Partner Sasha Vidiborskiy will be part of Lakera’s board of administrators.
By 2026, 80% of enterprises are predicted to be utilizing GenAI or GenAI-enabled purposes in manufacturing, up from lower than 5% in 2023. Demand for Lakera’s platform is anticipated to proceed to develop quickly as companies around the globe rush to harness the facility of GenAI with out exposing themselves to the dangers inherent in AI.
GenAI is estimated to contribute $4.4 trillion yearly to world GDP, however cybersecurity is the second most cited danger related to GenAI adoption as conventional cyber instruments are unable to deal with the brand new risks it poses. This makes safety options that deal with the distinctive dangers of GenAI essential, as with out them, companies will be unable to reap the advantages of AI.
Lakera founder and CEO David Haber explains the urgency: “With the appearance of GenAI, conventional cybersecurity applied sciences are not sufficient. Companies now function in a world the place anybody who is aware of how you can discuss to them is aware of how you can hack them. Security options want to vary, however they can not get in the best way of the consumer expertise. We want real-time AI safety options that repeatedly evolve and allow an ideal consumer expertise.”
David elaborates in a weblog put up immediately:
Cybersecurity dangers posed by LLM
The scope of LLM vulnerabilities is various and extreme.
Lakera’s complete method to AI safety offers three key advantages to enterprises: safety that does not decelerate AI purposes, the flexibility to remain forward of AI threats with repeatedly evolving intelligence, and centralized implementation of AI safety controls.
The firm’s development comes at a pivotal time in AI growth. GenAI adoption permits customers to work together with software program purposes utilizing pure language, and Lakera’s real-time AI safety would not impair the interactivity of the applying. To make it simple for builders to implement, the corporate’s API may be built-in with a single line of code, offering an ultra-low latency safety layer that’s appropriate with any GenAI mannequin. Centralized administration permits safety groups to customise application-specific insurance policies and deal with rising threats with out code modifications.
Lakera is uniquely positioned to sort out these quickly altering challenges because of Gandalf, an AI training platform it created that serves because the world’s largest AI purple workforce. With over 250,000 distinctive customers worldwide, together with firms like Microsoft utilizing it for safety coaching, Gandalf generates a real-time and rising database of AI threats with 100,000 new assaults on daily basis, preserving Lakera’s software program updated and repeatedly defending its clients. The 50+ million information factors generated by Gandalf, mixed with the founding workforce’s in depth expertise in constructing AI techniques with real-time necessities, allow Lakera’s clients to remain forward of threats and ship an ideal consumer expertise.
Sasha Vidoborskiy, a companion at Atomico who will be part of Lakera’s board of administrators, stated: “Lakera has vital industrial affect, with clients corresponding to Dropbox and the highest three US banks, and already over 35% of the Fortune 100 on board. These purchasers urgently need to deploy GenAI purposes in manufacturing, however cannot accomplish that with out safeguards in place. They select Lakera due to our ease of integration, best-in-class efficiency and low latency. But most significantly, the corporate is led by David and his workforce, who’re thought leaders within the house and have a deep understanding of how AI adoption impacts new cybersecurity dangers.”
“At Dropbox, guaranteeing the safety of our techniques and buyer information is our prime precedence,” stated Donald Tucker, head of company growth and ventures at Dropbox. “The Lakera workforce has in depth experience and a deep understanding of the complicated safety challenges enterprises face in LLM and generative AI. Their superior expertise helps firms like Dropbox shield themselves from vulnerabilities these new applied sciences pose. We’re excited to strengthen our present relationship with Lakera by investing within the firm’s future and AI safety.”
Lakera plans to make use of the most recent funding spherical to additional put money into product growth and broaden its presence within the United States, the place it’s already based mostly in Silicon Valley.
About Lakera
Lakera is the world’s main real-time GenAI safety firm. Customers flip to Lakera for safety that does not decelerate their AI purposes. To speed up the protected adoption of AI, the corporate created Gandalf, an academic software that has helped over 1 million customers study AI safety. Lakera makes use of AI to repeatedly evolve its defenses, serving to clients keep forward of rising threats. Lakera was based in 2021 by David Haber, Mateo Rojas-Carulla, and Matthias Kraft.
About Atomico
Atomico invests in bold expertise founders from seed to IPO, with a selected deal with Europe, leveraging its in depth operational expertise to speed up development. Founded in 2006, Atomico has labored with over 100 bold groups, together with Klarna, Supercell, Graphcore, Compass, MessageBird, Masterclass, Attentive Mobile, Pipedrive and Hinge Health. Atomico’s workforce of founders, traders and operational leaders have led world growth, recruiting and advertising at firms starting from Skype and Google to Twitter and Uber. The agency at present has $5 billion in belongings beneath administration.