Knostic Raises $3.3M for Enterprise GenAI Access Control

PRESS RELEASE

RESTON, Va. and TEL AVIV, Israel, April 11, 2024/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ – Knostic, the world’s first provider of need-to-know access controls for Generative AI, emerges today from stealth, having been named one of the top three finalists for the 2024 RSA Conference Launch Pad competition.

Organizations are rapidly adopting Large Language Models (LLMs) and tools such as Microsoft Copilot and Glean to create ChatGPT-like systems, but with their own institutional knowledge. Such systems also introduce business risks, primarily by exposing content outside of an employee’s need-to-know, e.g., bonuses, sales revenue, and mergers and acquisition information. With Knostic, employees can access everything they need, but with answers shaped to just what they need to know in order to do their job per organizational policy.

“Microsoft Copilot, Glean, and other LLMs are akin to a race car engine. Data is the fuel. But who would want to drive fast without brakes? We are the brakes, giving enterprises the confidence to accelerate their adoption of LLMs, while ensuring the safety of their most valuable assets,” said Sounil Yu, co-founder and CTO of Knostic.

Knostic’s offering also helps organizations with the early adoption stage, understanding their exposure to need-to-know violations and the path towards safe implementation of LLM-based tools. Legacy approaches for data security such as permission-based access control fall short at the LLM age, and new approaches are needed.

Gadi Evron, co-founder and CEO of Knostic, further elaborated: “From a misfiled payroll spreadsheet and a sensitive presenter comment left in a template, or even secrets inferred from legitimately accessible content, LLMs accelerate the discovery of harmful, and potentially dangerous information to anyone who asks. Knostic goes beyond legacy permission models and shapes access based on actual user need-to-know.”

Founded in late 2023 by cybersecurity veterans Gadi Evron (serial entrepreneur, previously from Citibank and PwC) and Sounil Yu (former Chief Security Scientist at Bank of America), Knostic raised a $3.3M pre-seed financing round, with participation from Shield Capital, Pitango First, DNX Ventures, and Seedcamp, as well as angel investors Kevin Mahaffey (Lookout), David Cross (Rain Capital), Bryson Bort (SCYTHE), Travis McPeak (Resourcely), Matthew Honea (Forward Networks), and others.

Raj Shah of Shield Capital: “Safety is a critical enabler for enterprise adoption of Large Language Models,” said Raj Shah, Managing Partner at Shield Capital. “We are proud to be partnered with Gadi and Sounil who are building breakthrough solutions at Knostic.ai.”

Admr. Mike Rogers(Ret.), former head of the NSA: “Knostic’s unique approach around need-to-know personalization is what unlocks LLMs for enterprises, not to mention in the DoD space. I’m excited for the journey ahead.”

About Knostic

Knostic is the world’s first provider of need-to-know based access controls for Large Language Models (LLMs). With knowledge-centric capabilities, Knostic enables organizations to accelerate the adoption of LLMs and drive AI-powered innovation without compromising value, security, or safety.

For more details, visit https://www.knostic.ai/