As the proliferation of scarily realistic deepfakes continues to pose a significant threat to companies and national security, a startup called GetReal has raised $17.5 million in equity funding to develop an AI-powered forensics platform aimed at detecting and halting deepfakes and impersonations in audio, video, and still images.

GetReal, co-founded by Dr. Hany Farid, a pioneer in detecting deepfake media, will use the funding to further develop its forensics platform as a service, which includes a web interface, an API, and integrations to run media analysis-as-a-service. The platform features a threat exposure dashboard, an "Inspect" tool specifically designed to safeguard high-profile executives from being spoofed, a "Protect" tool to screen media, and "Respond" – a service that involves human teams at GetReal performing deeper analysis.

The funding round was led by Forgepoint Capital, a specialist in cybersecurity and AI, with participation from Ballistic Ventures, Evolution Equity, and K2 Access Fund. Notably, Ballistic Ventures incubated GetReal from 2022 until it emerged from stealth in June 2024 and also led the company's $7 million seed round.

GetReal's CEO, Matt Moynahan, highlighted the gap in the market that the company is addressing – the dearth of talent and knowledge in the area of cyber-forensics. "If you think cybersecurity has a shortage of people, get ready for forensics," Moynahan said. He emphasized the ubiquity of the threat posed by deepfakes, citing the ease with which even smart people can be tricked and the shift towards digital businesses and cloud-based operations.

Dr. Farid, a renowned academic and researcher, has been applying his learnings informally for years as a service to media organizations, legal teams, and others. He teamed up with Ted Schlein, the founder of Ballistic Ventures, to translate his investigative process into code, creating a "Hany service" in the cloud. Farid noted that while the technology being developed is dependent on how new apps work, it is combined with decades of knowledge that has changed very little.

The Series A funding round also includes strategic backers such as Cisco Investments, Capital One Ventures, and In-Q-Tel, an investment firm closely linked with the CIA. These backers mirror the kinds of companies that are interested in or have already started to adopt GetReal's product, including heavily regulated industries like financial institutions and government agencies.

Named customers include John Deere and Visa, with government agencies also expressing interest in the platform. However, GetReal's current focus is on audio, video, and still images, with text-based impersonations not yet in its purview. Dr. Farid acknowledged that text is a different beast, but the plan is to widen the scope over time to include all kinds of deepfake and impersonation threats.

The need for a solution like GetReal's platform is underscored by recent incidents, such as the editor of The Atlantic being mistakenly added to a Signal group chat planning a military attack in Yemen, which initially raised suspicions of an impersonation hoax. The incident highlights the potential for deepfakes to compromise national security procedures.

As the threat of deepfakes continues to evolve, GetReal's AI-powered forensics platform is poised to play a critical role in detecting and halting these threats, providing a much-needed solution for governments, enterprises, and individuals alike.