MokN, a Paris-based cybersecurity startup launched in 2024, has raised €2.6 million in Seed funding to develop its deception-based id safety know-how and provoke its business rollout in america.
The spherical was led by Moonfire, with participation from OVNI Capital, Kima Ventures, and several other notable enterprise angels.
“The mission was born out of a cyber disaster I skilled in a earlier function, which highlighted {that a} seemingly apparent strategy was nonetheless lacking from the market. In lower than a 12 months, absolutely bootstrapped, we proved the worth of our answer with main enterprises. Our technical DNA permits us to talk knowledgeable to knowledgeable, which has accelerated our development. As we speak, with confirmed know-how, robust traction, and no direct competitors within the U.S., we see a novel alternative forward,” stated Gautier Bugeon, Co-founder and CEO of MokN.
The MokN funding spherical matches right into a broader pattern of early-stage funding throughout the European cybersecurity, id, and fraud prevention house in 2025.
Startups are tackling overlapping challenges equivalent to autonomous cyber protection (€2.1 million for WiseBee), artificial risk intelligence and AI fraud detection (€3.7 million for Innerworks), misuse detection (€936k for Egregious), biometric authentication (€1.9 million for Keyless), fraud prevention (€6 million for Trustfull), enterprise id verification (€10 million for Duna), and digital anonymity (€1.8 million for Dold Adress).
MokN’s concentrate on deceiving attackers to neutralise stolen credentials represents a definite strategy in comparison with these friends, that are extra typically centred on reactive detection, id verification, or fraud analytics.
The startup has developed a proactive technique to sort out the rising downside of stolen credentials by turning the tables on attackers: as a substitute of blocking them, MokN lures cybercriminals into revealing the very knowledge they’ve simply stolen. Already adopted by over 20 enterprises – the answer has propelled the bootstrapped firm to greater than €1 million ARR in below a 12 months.
“Id theft is without doubt one of the fastest-growing and most damaging cyber threats, but it’s nearly unimaginable to get better stolen credentials earlier than they’re abused. MokN is tackling this head-on with ingenious deception know-how that turns attackers’ personal ways towards them. Their speedy progress highlights each the urgency of the issue and the energy of their product. We’re proud to again their U.S. growth“, stated Akshat Goenka, Companion at Moonfire.
Based in 2023 by Gautier Bugeon, MokN was born out of firsthand expertise throughout a cyber disaster, which uncovered a blind spot in conventional defence methods.
The startup’s innovation lies in its “phish-back” know-how: hyper-realistic decoy portals (for instance, pretend VPN or e-mail login pages) are arrange inside an organization’s community. When an attacker makes use of stolen credentials on one in every of these decoys, they unwittingly alert the safety crew – typically earlier than the credentials are bought or used elsewhere.
As per the corporate, the timing couldn’t be extra related. In accordance with the 2024 Verizon Knowledge Breach Investigations Report, compromised credentials stay the main trigger of information breaches. Almost 65% of cyberattacks lead to monetary hurt, and conventional defensive measures wrestle to maintain tempo with evolving risk vectors.
MokN’s trap-based technique goals to offer safety groups an opportunity to intervene on the earliest potential stage – when the attacker first makes an attempt to check the stolen credentials.
MokN’s early traction is particularly notable contemplating the corporate remained self-funded till now. In simply over 12 months, it has attracted a roster of enterprise shoppers, and guarded greater than 500,000 customers.
“We knew attackers had been focusing on us, however by no means had direct proof. Inside days of deploying MokN, we intercepted credentials that had simply been stolen, earlier than any public publicity. These insights now assist us reinforce our detection technique and talk danger clearly to the board,” stated a safety chief at a French multinational.
With this Seed spherical secured, the French startup now units its sights on america – an under-served marketplace for deception-based credential safety. A part of MokN’s management crew will relocate stateside to be nearer to its future prospects.
The corporate additionally plans to scale its crew in France, recruiting throughout product, gross sales, and advertising and marketing to help its dual-continent development.
“MokN’s strategy redefines the early detection of credential-based threats. Their quick deployment, sign high quality, and seamless SOC integration make them a compelling new layer within the fashionable identity-first safety stack,” added Augustin Sayer, Managing Companion at OVNI Capital.
With no direct rivals presently providing an identical proactive deception technique within the U.S., MokN seems properly positioned to make a mark on the worldwide cybersecurity panorama – and keep one step forward of the hackers.
