Cranium Announces $25 Million in Series A Funding to Secure AI

PRESS RELEASE

SHORT HILLS, N.J., Oct. 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cranium, the leading enterprise AI security and trust software firm, today announced that the company has raised $25 million in Series A funding. Telstra Ventures led the round with participation from KPMG LLP and SYN Ventures. Both participating investors previously provided seed funding when Cranium emerged from stealth six months ago and spun out of KPMG with additional investment from SYN Ventures.

The new round brings Cranium's total funding to $32 million. The funds will be used for innovation, research and development (R&D), and business expansion. Cranium's newest round will build company growth, strengthen customer momentum, and accelerate Cranium Enterprise software platform innovation through product development; scale go-to-market strategies, including sales and marketing efforts; allow investment in R&D to further visibility into the security of AI systems; enhance security, regulation, and compliance in AI/ML environments against adversarial threats; and reinforce its teams and customers with additional support.

"AI is being embedded into every business process and function at an unprecedented speed. Prioritizing responsible AI now, at the beginning of the AI revolution, will allow enterprises to scale more effectively and not run into major roadblocks and compliance issues later," said Jonathan Dambrot, CEO and Co-Founder of Cranium. "We're honored and deeply grateful for the support from our customers and investors whose dedication to Cranium only fuels our commitment to provide unparalleled visibility, trust, and a new level of security when it comes to the entire AI ecosystem of any organization."

Cranium helps organizations gain confidence in the AI-enabled products in services they are both creating and using. Cranium's software is custom-built to address the gap between data science, compliance, and cybersecurity teams by providing a single source of truth for AI security risks, which is done in a way that avoids requiring teams to change their processes, tools, or workflows; its value is ensuring AI systems are secure, trustworthy, and compliant, properly handling vital resources such as health, financial, and consumer data to meet compliance regulations.

"The rapid rate of innovation fueled by the emergence of GenAI capabilities has generated fresh challenges for cybersecurity teams, raising new questions over compliance, trustworthiness, and security of their AI/ML environments," said Marcus Bartram, General Partner at Telstra Ventures. "Cranium stands at the forefront of AI security and trust software, empowering organizations to navigate the crowded cybersecurity industry with its groundbreaking product and pioneering innovations addressing enterprises' urgent needs grappling with AI regulation, compliance, and security frameworks. We're thrilled to invest in the team at Cranium and are confident in the tremendous impact they're poised to make."

Since its inception, Cranium's dedication to making AI security attainable by working with global leaders in health sciences, financial services, consumer packaged goods, and retail showcases its versatility and holistic view of the AI industry. As the first-ever technology spinout out of KPMG's startup incubator, Cranium's mission is to secure the AI revolution, enabling organizations to secure their AI technologies. Cranium's unique design and features, grounded in years of industry experience and high-level partnerships, lend it a distinct edge in the increasingly crowded cybersecurity market.

About Cranium

Cranium is the leading enterprise AI security and trust software firm, enabling organizations to gain visibility, security, and compliance across their AI and GenAI systems. Organizations can map, monitor, and manage their AI/ML environments against adversarial threats without interrupting how teams train, test, and deploy their AI models through its Cranium Enterprise software platform. The Cranium platform also allows organizations to quickly gather and share information about the trustworthiness and compliance of their AI models with their third parties, clients, and regulators. Incubated and funded in stealth inside of KPMG Studio, Cranium helps cybersecurity and data science teams understand that AI impacts their systems, data, or services everywhere. Secure your AI at Cranium.AI.

About Telstra Ventures

Telstra Ventures Accelerates the Extraordinary – we fuel the growth of standout disruptors. In our first eleven years, 96 investments have generated 38 liquidity events including Auth0, BigCommerce, Box, CrowdStrike, DocuSign, Rancher, Skillz, Snap, and Whispir. To date, our Revenue Acceleration Platform has driven > US$500 million in revenue for our portfolio companies, extending their reach across Australia, Asia, UK and the US. In 2022, we announced the close of our third fund, bringing Funds Under Management to US$1 Billion. To see our full portfolio and learn more, visit www.telstraventures.com.