Newcastle-based Crowd Threat, a platform that identifies security risks worldwide using reports from local people, has secured a £1m investment.
The funding comes from the North East Accelerate Fund, which is managed by Mercia Ventures, and from NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance, which is managed by PXN Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.
The money will be used to further develop the product and expand its global coverage.
Crowd Threat provides up-to-date reports on incidents ranging from armed conflicts and terrorist attacks to social unrest and criminality.
The company describes its platform as the first to use crowd sourcing to gather threat data on a global scale.
It offers an alternative to the traditional intelligence model, which relies on teams of desk-based analysts who monitor media, social media and data feeds remotely.
Instead it uses a network of local contributors within each country, typically security or intelligence professionals, who are paid for each incident they report.
Reports are initially assigned a rating based on the contributor’s trust level, then verified with the help of AI and human reviewers.
The company says the model reduces costs and is designed to capture threats closer to the source and identify emerging risks at an earlier stage.
Michael McCabe, who spent over two decades working in intelligence with the British military and private security companies in Iraq, founded the business.
He is also the founder of Intelligence Fusion, a software-enabled intelligence provider that was acquired by Sigma7 in 2022.
McCabe set up Crowd Threat in 2025 and worked with Newcastle tech company Wubbleyou to develop the platform, which went live in June this year.
Its 200-plus contributors are based in 17 countries across six continents.
McCabe aims to expand coverage, particularly in Africa, South America and Asia, and ultimately have up to 10,000 contributors.
The funding will also enable him to create seven new jobs and work on a second product that could identify community tensions and provide early warning of riots and outbreaks of violence.
The raise comes as increased geopolitical risk is driving demand for threat intelligence, not only from governments and security providers but also from corporates looking to safeguard their overseas operations and supply chains.
McCabe said: “While working in Iraq, the security professionals would share information in an online forum. If an explosive device went off in the morning, by the end of the day we would know all the background. I came away thinking, why can’t we tap into local networks around the world?”
He added: “Technology now allows us to crowd source threats on a global scale. Using local people who understand the language and culture means we can report incidents more quickly and identify threats Western analysts may miss.”
Owen Conquest of Mercia Ventures said: “Demand for threat intelligence is growing. Crowd Threat’s innovative crowdsourced model offers an alternative approach to intelligence gathering, designed to improve the speed and quality of intelligence.”
Laurence Tan, Senior Investment Associate at PXN Ventures, said: “We’re proud to be backing Michael and the team with NPIF II funding to help scale this very timely innovation.”