As misinformation spreads rapidly in today’s digital age, fueled by the proliferation of AI-generated content, companies are equally vulnerable to its insidious effects as individuals themselves?
Refute, a London-based startup, detects and responds to disinformation on behalf of industrial entities. Having secured a £2.3 million ($2.9 million) pre-seed investment round, led by UK-based traders at, the company is poised for growth.
Geopolitical tensions and the proliferation of generative AI fuel a plethora of disinformation attacks, rendering it increasingly challenging to discern fact from fiction.
Sophisticated cyber operations, often orchestrated by nation-state actors or industrially motivated adversaries, focus on targeting firms, their supply chains, and high-ranking executives with precision and deliberation. The outcome has significant potential to impact both reputation and financial standing.
According to Tom Garnett, co-founder and CEO of Refute, speaking with TechCrunch, he noted that their current clients often employ social and media monitoring tools to identify potential disinformation risks. While ostensibly designed for advertising and marketing purposes, these passive instruments are often used to deceive, with excessively loud noise levels and unclear origins masking their true narratives. The outcomes are that customers aren’t adequately prepared to comprehend and subsequently address the comprehensive picture of the risk.
It’s clear that the trend is upward, with multiple startups venturing into this emerging market.
Opponents to refute include Alethea, which has secured funding of $30 million, as well as Blackbird AI, with a total of $30.6 million raised, and Logically AI, boasting an impressive haul of $36.7 million.
Notwithstanding, Garnett asserted that our solution comprises both detection and response capabilities, thus providing a comprehensive answer. This isolates us from one another out here, as different approaches are predominantly focused on detection.
Identifies and counteracts disinformation efforts by identifying the telltale signs of malicious activity characteristic of adversary tactics.
Garnett started his career in national security at Detica and BAE Systems, developing comprehensive data analytics solutions to examine criminal activity, specifically focusing on terrorist attacks.
He realized that comparable underlying know-how might be used to struggle legal exercise within the industrial sector together with cyber assaults and monetary crime: “This led me to go up the federal government and cybersecurity enterprise at Ripjar: promoting, constructing, and delivering options for tech firms, monetary companies, oil & gasoline and authorities clients.”
Growing up in 1980s and 1990s Romania, Vlad Galu’s co-founder personally witnessed the chilling effects of widespread disinformation. He told TechCrunch: “I began building the core web infrastructure and companies in Romania and Central Eastern Europe, constructing everything from the ground up during a time of rapidly evolving technology and limited legal frameworks. This required us to implement multiple layers of protection against threats targeting both platforms and end-users.”
Participating alongside were Notion Capital and Amadeus Capital Partners. The company has rejected the offer of additional angel funding from investors Charlie Songhurst, Carlos Espinal, James Chappell, and Alastair Paterson.
Andrew Sheffield, Principal at Playfair Capital, noted that “The data landscape has shifted: it’s becoming increasingly difficult to discern truth from fiction, with the cost of disseminating false information decreasing… Tom and Vlad bring over four decades of expertise in data analysis, cybersecurity, combating terrorist attacks, identity management, and anti-money laundering efforts.”
