Ocean Raises $28M to Combat AI-Powered Email Phishing

Ocean, an innovative email security platform, has emerged from stealth mode with a total of $28 million in funding to combat AI-driven phishing threats. This funding round was spearheaded by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with contributions from Picture Capital and Cerca Partners. Notable angel investors include Assaf Rappaport, co-founder of Wiz, and Yevgeny Dibrov and Nadir Izrael, co-founders of Armis. Shay Shwartz, the founder and a former teenage hacker who contributed to Israel's Iron Dome, teamed up with CTO Oran Moyal to establish Ocean. The startup claims its AI technology assesses email context to identify fraud and impersonation, employing a specialized small language model for efficiency. Ocean currently processes billions of emails each month for clients such as Kayak, Kingston Technology, and Headspace. Shwartz emphasizes that AI has streamlined spear-phishing, facilitating extensive targeted attacks that traditional providers like Proofpoint and Mimecast might overlook.