AI social media screening startup Ferretly has raised $2.5 million in seed funding to launch a new platform for vetting election officials. Founded in 2019, Ferretly uses AI to scan social media and publicly available online data to uncover potential risks and behaviors that may be missed through traditional background checks.
The startup is the brainchild of Darrin Lipscomb, who previously founded software startups Pipestream and Avrio, which he sold to BMC Software and Hitachi, respectively.
Lipscomb told TechCrunch that Ferretly is designed to help recruiters make sure the people they hire align with their company's values — just like you wouldn't want to hire someone who's committed a crime, the goal is to avoid hiring someone who's made threats or made racist comments online.
“This is really about character,” Lipscomb says. “Normal background checks are centered around the physical world, right? What crimes have occurred in the physical world? Now, as more people are interconnected and move online, it's important to look at the digital persona. It gives a unique insight for recruiters into this person, especially their personality.”
As the 2024 presidential election approaches, Ferretly is launching a new election worker screening platform to screen candidates, poll workers, campaign workers and other election personnel to mitigate the risk of interference.
The Election Officials Screening Platform evaluates digital red flags such as inflammatory rhetoric or hate speech, derogatory or bullying behavior, suspicious activity like drug use, nudity or violence, and affiliations with extremist groups or individuals.
Image credit: Ferretly
Ferretly recently enhanced its image classification tools to detect offensive gestures like the middle finger, as well as extremist symbols like Nazi insignia and the flags of terrorist groups. The platform can also identify images of weapons, including firearms, sharp objects and explosives.
Ferretly not only scans social media platforms, but also web pages and news articles to highlight additional information.
Ferretly scans applicants' social media and publicly available data and then compiles the results into reports that recruiters can use to quickly gather insights about applicants, including risk indicators, flagged content, and behavioral insights.
Ferretly says it complies with federal and state laws when it comes to pre-employment social media screening and data protection. While the startup's tool may seem creepy, it's a reminder that everything you say online leaves a digital footprint. We live in an age where being fired over a social media post is common, so it's not surprising that tools like Ferretly exist.
The startup has customers in 32 countries and over 1,000 clients across a variety of industries. Notable clients include Deloitte, Blizzard Entertainment, and Paramount Global. The startup's tools are used by non-profits, public sector organizations like police, and even political parties in the UK, New Zealand, and Canada.
Lipscomb said Ferretly also does a lot of vetting of influencers because brands want to make sure they aren't hiring someone who has made hateful or threatening statements online to represent their brand. The startup's tools were also used by several NFL teams during the draft.
As for the new funding, Lipscomb said most of it will go towards marketing efforts to raise awareness of Ferretry, with the rest going towards research and development.
The funding was led by David Dickerson, chairman and founder of Accurate Background, a provider of employment background check services.