LetsData, a startup from Ukraine that detects false information, has secured $1.6 million in pre-seed funding. The company plans to use this money to expand its technology in the United States and Europe.
After two years of self-funding, LetsData achieved an annual revenue rate of $1 million. The recent funding round includes investments from Wayra, Telefónica’s innovation arm, and Google’s Ukraine Support Fund. Other key investors included SMOK Ventures, Tilia Impact Ventures (backed by the InvestEU Fund), 1991 Ventures and Startup Wise Guys. Prominent angel investors Pavla Bobosikova, CEO and co-founder at WFHomie, and Marty Krátký-Katz, CEO and co-founder at Blockthrough, also participated in the round.
LetsData’s innovative real-time security radar technology is already trusted by high-profile entities such as the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), UK Embassies, NATO member state Armed Forces, and a variety of corporations across the US, UK, and Europe. With this fresh injection of capital, the company is poised to scale its capabilities and expand further into the US and European markets to meet increasing demand.
The need for real-time security radar
In a world where digital disinformation can disrupt elections, tarnish corporate reputations, or sway public opinion, organisations are grappling with increasingly sophisticated threats. Earlier this year, LetsData demonstrated its prowess by participating in Google for Startups’ Growth Academy: AI for Cybersecurity. The programme offered access to Google’s tools and partners, bolstering LetsData’s rapid growth trajectory.
Already achieving $1M annual recurring revenue (ARR) after two years of bootstrapping, LetsData’s advanced platform offers a solution to an ever-pressing problem. For instance, while collaborating with a government client, the technology uncovered a botnet reposting sanctioned Russian news content at a staggering rate of 86 posts per second across social media and fake news sites. By identifying the malicious behaviour, LetsData’s system provided an actionable threat report, allowing the client to respond immediately.
Advanced AI radar tackling modern security challenges in real-time
LetsData leverages state-of-the-art AI models to process open-source data across over 100 million websites and social media platforms, spanning more than 50 languages. Its robust analytical capabilities encompass platforms such as Telegram, YouTube, and TikTok, analysing text and video metadata to detect intent and coordination behind information operations.
“LetsData’s technology detects 80% more threats at their inception than conventional tools,” the company noted. This efficiency stems from the platform’s semantic understanding, which links and groups content across sources, empowering organisations to mitigate risks before they escalate into reputational damage, cyberattacks, or operational disruptions.
Bridging the gap in InfoOps detection
Ksenia Iliuk, co-founder of LetsData, reflected on the origins of the company: “LetsData began as a bootstrapped venture during the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when we saw a spike in demand from companies and governments requiring advanced InfoOps detection. Typically, organisations rely on understaffed teams or communications departments that are ill-equipped to handle these kinds of threats. LetsData bridges this gap by providing a security-first approach to InfoOps, enabling clients to act on alerts from day one of onboarding without the need for complex training or resource-intensive processes. Our ambition is to become the industry standard for InfoOps detection and disrupt the industry by delivering actionable intelligence that empowers organisations to respond swiftly and effectively.”
Investor confidence in a crucial mission
Borys Musielak, founding partner at SMOK Ventures, expressed confidence in the team: “I loved how Ksenia and Andriy bootstrapped their way to profitability without even raising external funding. Their technology is already helping to stop the information operations and with a growing list of high-value clients, our investment will help support them as they scale to meet the increasing demand for advanced InfoOps protection.”
Gonzalo Pérez, Head of Investments at Wayra Germany, highlighted the significance of LetsData’s approach: “Existing tools to combat information operations, specifically manipulation and synthetic identities simply can’t keep up with the complex, real-world challenges businesses face today. Threat actors are only increasing in sophistication to find new ways of disrupting organisations and manipulating public opinion. That’s why we are so excited to be supporting LetsData, whose proprietary technology effectively identifies, and combats coordinated and widespread information operations.”
Strengthening InfoOps defences globally
As LetsData embarks on this next phase of growth, its mission to integrate actionable threat intelligence into organisations’ workflows becomes increasingly critical. By providing real-time insights and empowering clients to respond proactively, LetsData is setting a new benchmark in the fight against disinformation and synthetic identity threats.
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