AI-powered social media verification startup Ferretly secures $2.5M, launches election staff screening tool

AI-powered social media screening startup Ferretly has raised $2.5 million in seed funding and is launching a new platform designed to screen election staff. Founded in 2019, Ferretly uses AI to scan social media and publicly available online data to uncover potential risks and behaviors that traditional background checks might miss.

The startup was founded by Darrin Lipscomb, who previously founded software startups Pipestream and Avrio, which were sold to BMC Software and Hitachi, respectively.

Lipscomb told TechCrunch that Ferretly is designed to help hiring managers make sure the person they’re hiring aligns with the company’s values. The idea is to make sure you’re not hiring someone who makes threats or shares racist remarks online, just as you wouldn’t want to hire someone who’s committed a crime.

“It’s really a question of character,” Lipscomb said. “Your normal background check is based on the physical world, right? What crime happened in the physical world? Now, as more and more people are becoming connected and moving online, it’s really about looking at the digital persona. We can glean some unique insights for hiring managers about that person, specifically their character.”

As the 2024 presidential election approaches, Ferretly is rolling out a new election staff verification platform that vets candidates, election workers, canvassers, and other election personnel to reduce the risk of disruptive behavior.

The election staff screening platform assesses digital red flags including: inflammatory rhetoric or hate speech, disparaging or intimidating behavior, suspicious behavior such as drug use, nudity or violence, and affiliations with extremist groups or individuals.

Ferretly recently improved its image classification tool to detect offensive gestures like the middle finger and extremist symbols like Nazi insignia and terrorist group flags. The platform can also identify images of weapons, including firearms, sharp objects, and explosives.

Ferretly scans not only social media platforms, but also websites and news articles to highlight additional information.

After Ferretly scans an individual’s social media and public data, the platform summarizes its findings in a report that allows hiring managers to quickly gain insight into the individual. The report includes risk indicators, flagged content, and behavioral information.

Ferretly claims to comply with all federal and state/provincial regulations when it comes to social media pre-screening and data protection. While the startup’s tool may seem intimidating, it serves as a sobering reminder that everything you say online leaves a digital footprint. We live in an age where people are often fired for their social media posts, so it’s no surprise that a tool like Ferretly exists.

The startup has clients in 32 countries and over 1,000 customers across industries. Some notable clients include Deloitte, Blizzard Entertainment, and Paramount Global. The startup’s tools are also used by nonprofits, public sector organizations like the police, and even political parties in the UK, New Zealand, and Canada.

Lipscomb says Ferretly also does a lot of background checks on influencers, because brands want to make sure they’re not hiring someone who has made hateful or threatening remarks online to represent their brand. The startup’s tools have also been used by some NFL teams during the draft.

Lipscomb says most of the new funding will go towards marketing efforts to raise awareness of Ferretly, with the rest going towards research and development.

The funding leader was David Dickerson, president and founder of Accurate Background, an employment background check services company.