French cybersecurity startup MokN today announced raising €2.6 million (~$3 million) for its deception-based identity protection solution.
The investment round was led by Moonfire, with additional support from OVNI Capital, Kima Ventures, and several angel investors.
Founded in 2023, Paris-based MokN was launched last year fully bootstrapped and is already used by over 20 enterprises, including top French businesses.
The cybersecurity startup takes a fresh approach to securing identities: it deploys honeypots within the organization’s network to lure threat actors into revealing stolen credentials.
This phish-back solution relies on ultra-realistic decoy access points, including VPNs and email servers, that replicate the organization’s environment. If an attacker attempts to log in to one of these honeypots using a stolen identity, the security team is alerted and can act appropriately.
This approach not only outsmarts attackers, but also ensures that stolen credentials are recovered before they are sold on the dark web or used in attacks.
MokN plans to use the investment to strengthen its operations in Europe and fuel its international expansion, with a focus on the US market, where part of its leadership will be relocated.
Additionally, the startup will invest in enhancing its solution with new detection capabilities, and in expanding its product team in France and its sales and marketing team to support the US expansion.
“The project was born out of a cyber crisis I experienced in a previous role, which highlighted that a seemingly obvious approach was still missing from the market. Today, with proven technology, strong traction, and no direct competition in the US, we see a unique opportunity ahead,” MokN co-founder and CEO Gautier Bugeon said.
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