Thank You Baker
part 1/2
New Knowledge founding and investors in reference to Q 2635
Think of the work that this company does and the timing of there expansion This is a company that will most likely be reading this post very soon if not now and have the capabilities to counter it
There Costomers are in the field's of National security and the Entertainment Industry
and in the last year (as in since Q started posting) They say revenue has grown 1,000 percent with investment following the same patern did they get the contract to counter this board?
Founded in 2015 with early investment from tech stars and right side capital management listed as $100,000
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/popily#section-funding-rounds
Then in April of this year they got investment from Moon shot capital and 5 others including GGV of $1.9M
https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/popily-seed–34258bf7#section-locked-marketplace
Here is a very interesting article about that investment and although the article is not dated we can infer that the date was Aug 28, 2018 and the Nov they refer to is 2017
NEW KNOWLEDGE SECURES $1.9 MILLION IN SEED FUNDING FROM MOONSHOTS CAPITAL TO FIGHT ONLINE DISINFORMATION AND DEFEND PUBLIC DISCOURSE
Cybersecurity Company Leverages Artificial Intelligence to Detect Propaganda Campaigns and Guard Against Social Media Manipulation
New Knowledge, a cyber security company that fights online disinformation and defends public discourse using artificial intelligence, today announced $1.9 million in seed funding to fuel customer growth in the entertainment, energy and finance industries. The round is led by Moonshots Capital, with participation from Haystack, GGV Capital, Geekdom Fund, Capital Factory and Spitfire Ventures.
In November the company launched the world’s first platform for defending online communities from social media manipulation. The platform detects propaganda campaigns in real time, providing an early-warning system to identify which fake accounts and bots are conducting an attack.The platform also describes how the attackers are trying to manipulate other online users, helping pinpoint the extent of the threat. After alerting brands to emerging threats, the platform equips companies with the tools they need to respond quickly and effectively.
Recently, New Knowledge’s technology helped identify fake accounts that were part of the large-scale Russian effort to influence U.S. presidential elections. The company discovered these accounts in the summer of 2016, over a year before social media companies later admitted were tied to the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency.
“Disinformation attacks are anonymous, inexpensive, and effective— whether your goal is to influence an election or undermine a brand’s reputation,” said Jonathon Morgan, a co-founder and CEO of New Knowledge. “Brands are vulnerable, and public discourse won’t defend itself. It’s time to act. Our recent funding will allow us to scale operations and better serve customers.”
Morgan, a former digital content producer and State Department counterterrorism advisor, is joined by co-founders Ryan Fox, a former NSA officer and military intelligence veteran, and Sandeep Verma, who has led engineering teams for Halliburton and BP. Kelly Perdew, a Managing Partner at Moonshots Capital, will also be joining the board of directors.
“We’re proud to back New Knowledge as they help protect companies from a massively harmful cyber threat,” said Kelly Perdew, Managing General Partner at Moonshots Capital. “This team is uniquely qualified with technology, media, and security expertise to solve this complex problem.”
ABOUT NEW KNOWLEDGE
New Knowledge protects brands from social media disinformation by identifying fake accounts, fake news, and propaganda campaigns. Their products give companies early warnings when bad actors are trying to attack their reputation or manipulate their customers, and help companies defend themselves against this new form of information attack.
ABOUT MOONSHOTS CAPITAL
Moonshots Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in extraordinary leadership.
Great leaders are hard to come by. We believe the best ones are military-trained or trial-by-fire entrepreneurs who have the ability to motivate others to action, inspire trust, and plan heuristically. We invest with conviction when those attributes are present.
Moonshots Capital was founded by a team of veterans in 2017. We have collectively founded and operated 14 companies, and have personally invested in 70 ventures. Beyond capital, we deploy our military and entrepreneurial experience to help world-changing companies grow.
http://newknowledge.io/seed-funding/
part 2/2
New Knowledge founding and investors in reference to Q 2635
Think of the work that this company does and the timing of there expansion This is a company that will most likely be reading this post very soon if not now and have the capabilities to counter it
In March 2018 They closed another round of investment This time much lager with the lead investor Being the Chinese backed GGV also Moonshot again and Lux Capital totaling $11M
https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/popily-series-a–5247a7d5#section-overview
This investment was announced Aug 28 and generated this very interesting and reveling article (interview transcript) about what NK does and hints at some of there customers
Highlights:
New Knowledge just raised $11 million more to flag and fight social media disinformation meant to bring down companies
Back in January, we told you about a young, Austin, Tex.-based startup that fights online disinformation for corporate customers. Turns out we weren’t alone in finding it interesting. The now four-year-old, 40-person outfit, New Knowledge, just sealed up $11 million in new funding led by the cross-border venture firm GGV Capital, with participation from Lux Capital. GGV had also participated in the company’s $1.9 million seed round.
We talked yesterday with co-founder and CEO Jonathon Morgan and the company’s director of research, Renee DiResta, to learn more about its work, which appears to be going well. (They say revenue has grown 1,000 percent over last year.)
JM: Election interference is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of social media manipulation. Our customers are a little sensitive about being identified, but they are Fortune 100 companies in the entertainment industry, as well as consumer brands. We also have national security customers, though most of our business comes from the private sector.
TC: Renee, just a few weeks ago, you testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee about how social media platforms have enabled foreign-influence operations against the United States. What was that like?
RD: It was a great opportunity to educate the public on what happens and to speak directly to the senators about the need for government to be more proactive and to establish a deterrent strategy because [these disinformation campaigns] aren’t impacting just our elections but our society and American industry.
JM: Where we see this more for financial gain is when it involves state intelligence agencies trying to undermine companies where they have nationalized an industry that competes with U.S. institutions like oil and gas and agriculture companies. You can see this is the promotion of anti-GMO narratives, for example. Agricultural tech in the U.S. is a big business, and on the fringes, there’s some debate about whether GMOs are safe to eat, even though the scientific community is clear that they’re completely safe.
Meanwhile, there are documented examples of groups aligned with Russian intelligence using purchased social media to circulate conspiracy theories and manipulate the public conversation about GMOs.
TC: So you’re selling software-as-a-service that does what exactly?
JM: We have a SaaS product and a team of analysts who come out of the intelligence community and who help customers understand threats to their brand. It’s an AI-driven system that detects subtle social signs of manipulation across accounts. We then help the companies understand who is targeting them, why, and what they can do about it.
JM: First, they can’t be blindsided. Many can’t tell the difference between real and manufactured public outcry, so they don’t even know about it when it’s happening.
At the early stage, we can provide information to social media platforms to determine if what’s going on is acceptable within their policies. Longer term, we’re trying to find consensus between governments and also social media platforms themselves over what is and what isn’t acceptable — what’s aggressive conversation on these platforms and what’s out of bounds.
There are also a lot of disinformation campaigns on Reddit, but those conversations are less likely to be elevated into a topic on CNN, even while they can shape the opinions of large numbers of avid users. Then there are the off-brand platforms like 4chan, where a lot of these campaigns are born.
https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/28/new-knowledge-just-raised-11-million-more-to-flag-and-fight-social-media-disinformation-meant-to-bring-down-companies/
https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/28/new-knowledge-just-raised-11-million-more-to-flag-and-fight-social-media-disinformation-meant-to-bring-down-companies/
>>4419873 This earlier digg includes all posts I have found on New Knowleadge
>In November the company launched the world’s first platform for defending online communities from social media manipulation
In response to Q ?