"Koi closed a $10 million seed round in December and a $38 million Series A in August. Picture Capital and NFX led the seed, while Battery Ventures and Team8 led the Series A. Cerca Partners participated in both rounds. The Washington, DC-headquartered startup was cofounded last year by Assaraf and two other former Israel Defense Forces members who served in intelligence Unit 8200: CTO Idan Dardikman and CPO Itay Kruk. Both Dardikman and Kruk previously worked together at cybersecurity company Sygnia."
"It was born of a white-hat hacking gambit conducted in the summer of 2024. The trio found a security gap in the Microsoft Visual Studio Code Marketplace andcreated a fake theme extension called Darcula Official in 30 minutes that could collect sensitive information from users and control their systems remotely. Within a week, hundreds of organizations, including employees from Oracle and Pizza Hut, downloaded the extension. After the experiment, the team made responsible disclosures and removed themselves from the affected environments, Assaraf"
Koi has raised $48 million to help companies guard against add-on software that can evade long-standing protections. The startup targets risks from AI tools, browser extensions, and software packages that increase productivity but can bypass IT controls. Koi closed a $10 million seed in December and a $38 million Series A in August, with investors including Picture Capital, NFX, Battery Ventures, Team8, and Cerca Partners. The Washington, DC-based team includes three cofounders with Unit 8200 and Sygnia backgrounds. The founders demonstrated the risk by creating a fake Visual Studio Code theme, Darcula Official, which hundreds of organizations installed before responsible disclosure.
Read at Business Insider
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