Google for Startups has announced the second cohort of 17 startups for its Growth Academy: AI for Cybersecurity program. The group of startups from nine countries across Europe and North America will enter the three-month program to get access to Google’s tools, partners, and practices to help them continue to scale — and ultimately make the world a safer place.

Four startups in the cohort are from the CEE region, namely LetsData (Ukraine), Authologic (Poland), Patchstack (Estonia), and Talsec (Czechia). AIN.Capital tells more details about these startups.

LetsData — Ukraine

  • Founded by Ukrainian founders Andriy Kusyy and Ksenia Iliuk, LetsData provides businesses and organizations with real-time threat detection and analysis to mitigate the early cybersecurity risks connected to disinformation.
  • Since the launch, their AI-powered solution has experienced rapid growth, establishing operations in the US while continuing to anchor their technology and product development in Europe. According to the company, the startup helped to anticipate 900 risks and opportunities for disinformation across 50 countries. The solution analyses around 500,000 publications daily.

Authologic — Poland

  • Authologic is Warsaw-based startup building a global e-ID hub via API for government-issued digital IDs, identity wallets, and bank IDs. The company was established in July 2020 on the initiative of the founders of Zencard, a company purchased in 2017 by PKO BP, Krzysztof Klimczak, Marek Rogoziński, and Jarosław Sygitowicz.
  • In 2020, the startup secured $460,000 in a pre-seed round from SMOK Ventures and App’n’rol. And in 2023, Authologic was behind the development of Poland’s official digital identity tool, featured in the new version mObywatel.
mObywatel 2.0: digital ID became equal to plastic document in Poland

Patchstack — Estonia

  • Patchstack is a cybersecurity company focused on covering the complete lifecycle of open-source security — identifying new security vulnerabilities and helping open-source vendors fix security issues and mitigate vulnerabilities.
  • The company was founded in Estonia and was accelerated in a cyber-security program (Cylon) in London. Patchstack was also backed in 2022 by the European Innovation Council who supported their R&D capabilities to expand the innovative approach to the wider open-source ecosystem. According to the startup, on a daily basis Patchstack powers vulnerability scans for more than 10 million websites around the world.

Talsec — Czechia

  • Talsec is basically a security agent inside your phone apps. It makes special tools for app developers that protect apps from hackers, hide important information, and find sneaky malware. The company develops AppiCrypt, which offers additional API protection and prevents app impersonation using client app and device integrity control.