DataDome lands $42 million in Series C funding to combat bot-driven cyberattacks and fraud using AI

The sophistication of malicious bots is increasing rapidly, allowing them to evade security measures. The emergence of human-bot hybrids and AI-powered bots has made it possible for these threats to consistently bypass typical point-in-time, static barriers such as traditional CAPTCHAs, WAFs, and user validation databases.

Adding to the problem, silos between security and fraud mitigation make it easy for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities and launch attacks that impact the entire customer journey, ultimately benefiting themselves. This rise in automated cyberattacks and online fraud has significant financial consequences for online businesses. Enterprises require a solution that puts them back in control and equips them to combat fraud effectively. That’s why New York-based tech startup DataDome is on a mission to bot-driven cyberattacks and fraud using its AI-powered online fraud and bot management system.

Today, DataDome, announced it has raised $42 million in Series C funding to “fund global commercial rollout and R&D efforts to ensure that our offering continues to raise the bar, and stays well ahead of bot developers and fraudsters.” The round was led by InfraVia Growth, with participation from existing investors Elephant, ISAI, and others.

Founded in 2015 by co-founder and CEO Benjamin Fabre and his long-time colleague, Fabien Grenier, DataDome protects enterprises from bots and online fraud. The DataDome team describes themselves as “bot hunters.” DataDome is the third startup the duo has co-founded together. And it’s also not the first time Fabre has included Barrier into his startup mix, this time, Barrier has joined the DataDome team as a partner and the Chief Sales Officer.

In a statement, DataDome CEO Fabre said: “Bots have become a common path to fraud. In 2022 alone, DataDome stopped, in real-time, over 250 billion online fraud attempts. Because of how our product is built and deployed, we have a unique lens into attack vectors and can see across silos to stop attacks in their tracks. This is why enterprises like Rakuten, Reddit, and AngelList trust us to protect their digital properties.”

“This cash infusion will fund global commercial rollout and R&D efforts to ensure that our offering continues to raise the bar, and stays well ahead of bot developers and fraudsters,” continued Fabre. “In InfraVia, we have an investor who trusts in and shares our vision and brings years of valuable experience helping companies scale globally. Threat actors don’t stand a chance.”

DataDome’s advanced machine learning solution analyzes an incredible 3 trillion data points every day, enabling it to adapt to new threats in real-time and effectively detect and mitigate attacks.

Over the years, the DataDome team has tackled a significant technical challenge in detecting bots. The detection of bots is not as easy as most people might think, given that a large percentage of website traffic is automated and some bot traffic can be very harmful, testing millions of log-in credentials and jeopardizing companies with account takeover risks.

According to Fabre and Barrier, this account takeover activity has an 8% success rate, as many web users rely on the same credentials across multiple sites. Additionally, Fabre and Barrier have identified three distinct categories of robots, all of which are prevalent in DataDome’s three verticals.

DataDome’s bot and online fraud solution assess the intent of a visit in real-time, every time, to detect and mitigate attacks on mobile apps, websites, and APIs with unparalleled accuracy and zero compromises. Such performance is made possible by the solution’s ability to adapt machine learning algorithms in real-time, at the edge. DataDome protects 300+ enterprises from account takeover, scraping, payment fraud, DDoS, credential stuffing, and more.

“We were genuinely impressed by the sophistication of DataDome’s solution, as well as the company’s growth trajectory, especially in the US,” said Guillaume Santamaria, Partner at InfraVia. “DataDome perfectly embodies our commitment to growth technology companies, and we fully endorse the team’s vision of bot management as a foundation for fighting online fraud. We are very much looking forward to the next phase of DataDome’s evolution and global scale.”