66. facia.ai – the startup that can detect deepfakes in real-time

Founders: Mujadad Naeem and Daniyal A. Chughtai
Year founded: 2022
Website: facia.ai

You might have seen an amusing TikTok of what appears to be a young Tom Cruise recording himself doing a magic trick or washing his hands. It’s not really the A-list action star of course, but an AI-generated image or deepfake. 

It might sound like sci-fi, but this technology has very real (and terrifying) consequences for online safety. From a 654% spike in crypto scams, to people having their image non-consensually used to promote products, identity fraud using deepfakes is on the rise. 

facia.ai is here with a simple mission: to combat identity theft. How? With its biometric authenticator; technology which is able to accurately identify individuals in mere seconds.

facia.ai’s altruistic mission emerged from an unnerving personal incident. A family member of co-founder and CEO Mujadad Naeem, was using a ride-hailing app when they entered an area with no reception. Attempting to call the driver led to a chilling realisation; the man they called was not driving the car. Someone else was behind the wheel assuming his identity. 

While this story had a happy ending (the passenger made it to their destination safely) there are many victims of identity fraud who aren’t as fortunate. 

At Startups we know how much of a threat data breaches and identity theft can be to businesses and their employees. While it might not be the only facial-recognition player in town, what facai.ai is promising is a far smoother experience for the user without having to sacrifice any modicum of accuracy. In fact, the company boasts that it’s currently the world’s only solution for preventing deepfakes, and other spoofing attempts, and claims that its tech is 100% accurate. 

After securing a hefty £930,000 investment, led by angel investor Programmers Force, our judges here at Startups are confident that facia.ai will go on from strength to strength with their human-led approach to technology, and combating cyber-threats. And Tom Cruise can sleep well knowing he’s the only Maverick on the block.