Tessian, formerly referred to as CheckRecipient, is a London-based startup that is involved in deploying machine learning technology to boost email security. The company recently revealed that it had secured $13 million in Series A financing round to spearhead its effort to address enterprise email security issues through automation.
Both Accel and Balderton Capital led the financing round. The exercise also involved other several backers including existing ones such as Walking Ventures, Winton Ventures, LocalGlobe, Crane, and Amadeus Capital Partners.
Tessian utilizes machine learning in identifying and fixing misaddressed emails, which is a seemingly mundane glitch that leads to security headaches, especially when sensitive information is sent to wrong recipients. The company was launched in 2013 through the collaboration of three engineering graduates from Imperial College including Ed Bishop, Tom Adams, and Tim Sadler.
Tessian is built on the principle that humans are the weak link, particularly in data security and company email. This can be through errors such as nefarious employee activity or even wrongly intended recipient. Through leveraging machine intelligence in monitoring company email, the London-based startup has created various tools that can be used in preventing such cases.
The London-based startup pointed out that information commissioner’s office in the United Kingdom receives more security reports regarding misaddressed emails than those relating to any other security problem. According to the company, new European privacy rules can lead to hefty penalties for committing such mistakes.
After Tessian’s machine intelligence technology has been installed on a given company’s email systems, it goes through corporate email networks to assess common patterns as well as detect irregularities. If it identifies anything unusual in a given email, it sends an alert recommending the user to look at the contents.
The good thing about Tessian’s technology is that it works retroactively by generating historical reports that display the number of misaddressed emails that an organization has sent before the installation period. Doing so could assist with sales, although it may give a business’s security some hard time, particularly with Europe’s recent GDPR data regulation.
Tim Sadler, the co-founder and CEO of Tessian, said that the startup intends to utilize the raised funds for research and development including the unveiling of a new product as well as the expansion of both marketing and sales teams. Since carrying out its seed round last year, the company’s teams increased from 13 to 50 individuals. Furthermore, Tessian’s recurring revenue has also increased by 400 percent in the last one year.
According to Sadler, Tessian intends to apply its technology to existing outbound products and inbound email. He added that an email address is akin to an IP address for humans, which creates human to human networks. Nonetheless, humans are a weak link in terms of security. They act as the network’s gatekeeper.
Sadler also highlighted Tesssian’s plans to create inbound email less susceptible to data breaches. This exercise will include the use of Tessian’s machine intelligence to spot unusual communication or spoofed emails. He also added that although the company’s customers are in the financial services, healthcare, and legal industries, any business dealing with sensitive data is an ideal fit for its services.
Source VentureBeat
