AI social media vetting startup Ferretly secures $2.5M, launches election personnel screening tool
Summary
AI social media vetting startup Ferretly has raised $2.5 million in seed funding and is launching a new platform designed to screen election personnel. Founded in 2019, Ferretly leverages AI to scan social media and publicly available online data to uncover potential risks and behaviors that traditional background checks may overlook.The startup is the brainchild of Darrin Lipscomb, who previously founded software startups Pipestream and Avrio, which sold to BMC Software and Hitachi, respectively.Lipscomb told TechCrunch that Ferretly is designed to help hiring managers ensure that the person theyre hiring aligns with their companys values. We can glean some unique insights for hiring managers, about this individual, specifically their character.As we near the 2024 presidential election, Ferretly is debuting a new Election Personnel Screening Platform that screens candidates, poll workers, canvassers and other election personnel to mitigate risks of disruptive behaviors.The election personnel screening platform assesses digital red flags, including inflammatory rhetoric or hate speech, disparaging or bullying behavior, questionable conduct like drug use, nudity or violence, and connections to extremist groups or individuals.Ferretly recently enhanced its image classification tool to detect offensive gestures, such as the middle finger, and extremist symbols like Nazi insignias and terrorist group flags. The report includes risk indicators, flagged content and behavioral insights.Ferretly says it follows all federal and state/provincial laws when it comes to pre-employment social media screening and protecting your data. We live in a time where people are often fired for their social media posts, so its no surprise that a tool like Ferretly exists.The startup has customers in 32 countries and over 1,000 clients across various industries.