Galway venture Siren, which styles itself as an investigative intelligence company, has agreed a finance deal of €12m from the European Investment Bank.
Siren provides an intelligence platform to law enforcement agencies and organisations responsible for maintaining public safety around the world.
Its technology enables investigators to make complex searches, organise the results visually and create advanced reports.
The platform is also used by large corporations to protect their assets and networks against fraud and cyber threats.
Kris Peeters, EIB vice president, commented: “The European Investment Bank is committed to supporting cybersecurity innovation and accelerating development of cutting-edge technology to improve security of citizens around the world.
“The €12m backing for Siren will enhance analysis and investigation of data to combat human trafficking, strengthen law enforcement and tackle fraud.”
Details of the loan arrangement were not disclosed.
Siren, trading as Sindice Ltd since 2010, said last year it agreed several partnerships to bring a more complete suite of intelligence sources to its customers and differentiate itself in the marketplace as a single search experience across all third party data.
The new data partnerships provide commercial risk intelligence, open source intelligence, dark web intelligence and cyber threat intelligence. In addition, Siren launched Siren Consulting, a new strategic and applied projects unit of the company.
Iren customers include the Anti-Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative and the National Child Protection Task Force.
Siren CEO John Randles stated: “It’s a real milestone that Siren has been endorsed by the EIB and we are very grateful. For a company at Siren’s stage of growth, access to funding of this magnitude will fuel our rapid expansion plans and allow us to provide many more organisations with access to our unique technology.”
Siren is located in the Galway Innovation District and said it plans to increase headcount by 50% over the next two years.
In November 2022, Sindice Ltd raised €10.6m in equity funding from multiple investors, including John Randles, who invested €209,000.
The funding round was led by VC Atlantic Bridge, which topped up its existing position with a further €6.5m.
Other investors in the funding round included Growing Capital (€600k), John Hearne (€560k), In-Q-Tel Inc (€800k), and Siren DVI LLC (€500k).
Taxpayers chipped with €740,000 from Enterprise Ireland.
Sindice’s latest filed accounts are for 2020. Accumulated losses in December 2020 stood at €12.4m, and negative net worth was €10.3m.
Photo: Kris Peeters (left) and John Randles
