Securly CEO Uses Artificial Intelligence to Keep Kids Safe Online
*By Tracey Cheek*
Securly is a start-up with a simple mission: to keep kids safe online. And the artificial intelligence company has just raised $16 million in series B funding to expand the reach of its social media tracking capabilities to more parents and schools.
“We are going to take this money and invest in research and development and scaling up sales and distribution across America,” CEO and co-founder Vinay Mahadik told Cheddar.
The funding round was led by Defy Partners with participation by Owl Ventures. The infusion brought Securly’s total venture capital raised to date to $24 million.
Securly looks for online signs of cyberbullying, self-harm, and other digital threats both at school and at home. It currently has over 500,000 parents on its parent portal and serves more than 7 million total students and over 5,000 schools. It has a market penetration of over 10 percent of U.S. public school districts.
While big digital players like Facebook's ($FB) Instagram and Google ($GOOGL) have implemented their own tools for blocking unsafe content from kids, Mahadik says there is little evidence of adoption by parents.
“What we have seen over the past five years is schools and parents don't have the time to try and use all the solutions by each of the different giants out there,” Mahadik said. “Google, Microsoft ($MSFT), Apple ($APPL) all came out with their own solutions and we have not seen any evidence that parents actually using these solutions together in a typical household.”
With products both for school and home, Mahadik said Securly can offer a unified solution keep kids safe throughout their day.
"That's allowed the company to be a five-year-old startup competing with 20-year-old incumbents and still be extremely successful," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/securly-using-artificial-intelligence-to-keep-kids-safe-online).
By the time the 2024 election is over, be prepared to see some form of a recession – but this shouldn’t be as bad as what we experienced in 2020 or 2008.
International Master Alice Lee defeated grandmaster Irina Krush to win the American Cup – becoming one of the best women players in the world in the process – but she’s not stopping there.
You can track your sleep habits or heart rate, but how about your brain? Neurable's MW75-Neuro headphones turn your focus and productivity into data you can use to avoid burnout – here's how they do it.
Whether it’s a deepfake video of actor Tom Cruise discovering gum in a lollipop or President Joe Biden discouraging people from voting via telephone, you’ve likely come across a deepfake video, photo or audio recording.
Tensions in the South China Sea, Apple moving to India, and banning TikTok? The podcast ‘Face Off: The U.S. Versus China’ helps explain how we got here.
Cust2Mate is a leading innovator in retail technology, aiming to revolutionize the shopping experience. By implementing smart cart technology, the tech company addresses the issue of theft while enhancing the shopper's journey.
The Biden administration has unveiled a plan, Plan B, to address the student loan debt crisis. It offers to cancel up to $20,000 in interest for borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans. This proposal aims to reset balances for those facing growing debt due to unpaid interest, benefiting low—and middle-income borrowers. An estimated 25 million borrowers are eligible for some form of interest forgiveness.
