Victoria-based Echosec Systems has secured a $10 million credit facility from venture debt firm Espresso Capital.
Formed in 2013 by veteran cartographer and former CEO Karl Swannie, Echosec offers an open-source intelligence platform that helps security teams detect web-based data for threat intelligence. The company uses machine learning technology to aggregate and map content from hundreds of sources. This includes social media sites, blogs, news, and the dark web.
One of the key features in Echosec’s platform is its advanced filters, allowing users to focus on specific keywords and location-based content to classify the threat potential within posts for more effective prioritization.
”With the huge tailwinds we’re seeing for open source intelligence, this facility will allow us to accelerate in a rapidly evolving landscape.”
– Jeff Oldenburg
Echosec was acquired in 2020 by United States firm Tusker Fund. At that time, Tusker Fund co-founder Jeff Oldenburg took over as Echosec’s CEO. Tusker Fund committed to invest “significant funds” into Echosec to boost its growth, though financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Armed with the fresh venture debt capital, Echosec plans to make “strategic enhancements” to its offerings, and expand its sales and marketing efforts.
“By better contextualizing open source data through [neuro-linguisting programming] and product enhancements, we’re helping our customers derive real-time insights across dozens of languages in support of their missions,” said Oldenburg.
“With the huge tailwinds we’re seeing for open source intelligence, this facility will allow us to accelerate in a rapidly evolving landscape,” he added.
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The company’s goal to bolster its threat detection software comes during an increase in cybercrime affecting Canadian businesses where they are targeted for their customer, partner, and supplier data. The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) called cyberattacks “one of the greatest threats for tech businesses.”
James Langford, associate director at Espresso, said Echosec has a clear value proposition that’s only becoming more relevant “in the current geopolitical climate.” Langford’s comments come as United States and Ukraine firms have experienced an uptick in cybersecurity attacks amid the Russian invasion.
