A French cybersecurity company specialising in protection against credential theft is to expand in the UK after raising Series A funding.
MokN has raised $15 million led by GV (Google Ventures), with participation from DataDog and MokN’s existing investors Moonfire, OVNI Capital and angels.
In Europe, phishing remains the primary means of intrusion, accounting for approximately 60% of reported cases. In the UK 43% of businesses have experienced a cyberattack or data breach in the past 12 months, with phishing being the primary method of attack and a sharp increase in attacks involving credential theft.
Against this backdrop, MokN developed a ‘phish-back’ solution designed to outsmart attackers and recover compromised credentials before they are used or exposed on the dark web.
The company’s first product, Baits, works by deploying ultra-realistic decoy access points (such as VPN or webmail portals) that faithfully replicate the company’s environment. When an attacker attempts to log in, they unwittingly hand over the stolen credentials, allowing security teams to proactively neutralise the threat.
MokN already protects more than a million users across large corporations and mid-size companies, including finance, retail and healthcare.
As well as growth in the UK market, the company plans further global expansion, beginning with new offices in the US.
CEO Gautier Bugeon (pictured main image, left), who co-founded the company with Antoine Coudoux (right), is a former security operations centre (SOC) manager at mining firm Eramet.
“As a former SOC manager, I experienced first-hand how compromised identities remained a critical blind spot, he said. “MokN was built to change that.
“Today, we work with major enterprises to define a new category – Active Identity Recovery – giving them a proactive edge against identity-based attacks.”
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Luna Schmid, partner at GV, added: “We invested in MokN because of Gautier’s founder-market fit as a former SOC manager and our deep conviction in the team’s ability to address a critical gap in the cybersecurity market.
“With their initial product, Baits, they’ve developed a sophisticated wedge that turns the tide on attackers by leveraging high-fidelity decoys to trigger immediate, automated recovery workflows.
“We believe their approach is a game changer for enterprises looking to neutralize credential theft before it can escalate.”
Akshat Goenka, partner at Moonfire, said: “We backed MokN because they are addressing a fundamental blind spot in identity security.
“Most solutions only react once credentials are misused, whereas MokN operates before exploitation, recovering identities that would otherwise remain invisible.
“What has impressed us is not just the technical insight, but the speed at which Gautier and the team have translated that into real enterprise adoption and expansion.
“We believe MokN is building a new control layer in cybersecurity, and this round positions them to establish that category globally, starting with the US and the UK.”