Open-source intelligence (OSINT) software startup Fivecast has raised US$20 million (AU$30 million) in a Series A.

The Adelaide-based intelligence gathering platform scans publicly available data, including social media sites and the dark web, to identify threats ranging from extremists to terrorists, drug trafficking and organized crime.

The round was led by US cybersecurity firm VC Ten Eleven, backed by existing lenders Main Sequence, CSIRO’s deep tech fund and South Australian Venture Capital Fund.

It brings the total funding raised by the company to A$34 million.

The money will be used to expand and maintain existing contracts, including with the Five Eyes countries – Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and the UK. The intelligence gathering service is also targeting the Asia-Pacific and Europe region and is looking to move into corporate security and financial intelligence.

Built as a collaboration between government agencies, Fivecast uses AI and ML for targeted collection and risk analysis intelligence for defense, intelligence, law enforcement, border security, and businesses.

CEO and co-founder Dr. Brenton Cooper said the sheer amount of data available online makes it difficult for intelligence personnel to collect, filter and analyze data in a timely manner

“Our platform enables customers to stop the proliferation of threats, break through sophisticated online landscapes, and accelerate investigations to protect global communities and organizations.

“Since our founding in 2017, we’ve empowered government agencies and businesses to identify threats, mitigate risk, and mitigate incidents across a wide range of use cases — from divisive U.S. politics influencing violent extremism and China’s influence in the Pacific South Sea, to crypto scam. and laundering.”

Ten Eleven Ventures managing partner Alex Doll said they see OSINT as a large and emerging sector driven by the explosion of publicly available content

“Governments, law enforcement and other organizations need a faster and easier way to collect and analyze this open source data,” he said.

“Fivecast’s advanced collection methods and AI-assisted analytics tools bypass current manual data analysis processes to meet this important need. Notably, this is our second investment in Australia, a country we know has tremendous entrepreneurial and technical talent. We will continue to invest in Australia in the coming years and look forward to helping bridge the country’s incredible technology to other markets.”