Clarity Raises $16M in Seed Funding led by Walden Catalyst and Bessemer Venture Partners

Clarity enables organizations to rapidly identify and immunize from Deepfakes and synthetic media created by generative AI. They are proud to share a significant milestone in Clarity’s journey to immunize the world from the threat of Deepfakes: their partnership with Walden Catalyst and Bessemer Ventures Partners. This additional funding will allow them to double down on their core research efforts, while providing best-in-class solutions to the most critical infrastructure in our society.

Clarity is already integrated and deployed with leading media publishers, government agencies and other enterprises. It is now time for them to expand our offerings.

Their team brings unique talents and expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity, and they are extremely proud to be working together on this important challenge.

Deepfakes pose an unprecedented threat to society and estimates show that 90% of online content will be AI-generated by 2026. As the tools needed to create deepfakes are now widely accessible, the risks are distributed broadly across all domains; without intervention our future will be one of unstoppable financial fraud, political election manipulation, a destabilized judicial system, sophisticated spear phishing and more.

“Our digital lives are under attack by shockingly accurate representations of people saying things they never said, and doing things they never did; we are just at the beginning of the invasion of deceit,” said Michael Matias, co-founder and CEO of Clarity, previously studied AI at Stanford, Officer at the 8200 Cyber Unit and recipient of the Goldman Sachs 2023 Builders and Innovators Award. “These capital infusions and ongoing partnership with Walden Catalyst and Bessemer means that we an accelerate our R&D and market growth, both essential toour mission of preserving trust in the digital world.”

“Clarity’s technology enables organizations and intelligence agencies to fight what is now a very real threat to every business,” said Amit Karp, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “The Clarity team, which includes some of the most experienced cybersecurity and intelligence professionals in the industry, is on a mission to preserve trust in digital media by building cutting-edge technology to detect AI manipulations.”

Clarity is currently working with some of the largest news organizations to verify their media, is working with the government of Israel, and has recently partnered with Kaltura to verify and authenticate sensitive footage and testimonials from the Oct.7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas.

“Today, every news and media company is being exposed to deepfake content that is intended to change public perception,” said Chris Marlin, former Head of Strategy for CNN, who is also an angel investor. “It is imperative that organizations protect themselves from these advanced social engineering and phishing scams,” said Udi Mokay, Founder and Chairman of CyberArk and also an angel investor. Dr. Shay David, Co-Founder of enterprise video provider Kaltura adds, “Organizations must immediately adopt new media filtering mechanisms. Deepfakes might be found anywhere within the organization.”

With the upcoming U.S. presidential election, deepfakes are poised to play an outsized role in spreading misinformation that influence voters. “The proliferation of generative AI-produced content and deepfakes has the potential to create even greater voter distrust,” said Larry Diamond, Professor by courtesy of Sociology and Political Science at Stanford University. “Clarity’s technology will clear the fog of uncertainty and provide better clarity for voters and political leaders alike.”

“Existing authentication mechanism and woefully inadequate when it comes to identifying and purging deep of fakes. These new social engineering and phishing attacks and getting better by the hour,” said Roni Hefetz, a partner at Walden Catalyst. “We are excited to partner with Clarity and provide a scalable and trusted platform which organizations can use to verify sensitive media, prevent fraud and create an AI-safe environment.”