imper.ai Raises $28M to Stop AI-Powered Impersonation and Social Engineering Attacks

imper.ai, a pioneering cybersecurity startup focused on real-time cyber impersonation prevention, announced its public launch today alongside $28 million in new funding from Redpoint Ventures and Battery Ventures, with participation from Maple VC, Vessy VC, and Cerca Partners.

The company's platform addresses a rapidly growing threat: AI-driven impersonation and social engineering attacks that exploit the most vulnerable element of cybersecurity—human trust.

As artificial intelligence makes deepfakes and impersonation increasingly sophisticated, cybercriminals are weaponizing these technologies to trick employees into transferring money, sharing credentials, or granting system access. Recent high-profile cases include attackers using deepfake video to impersonate executives during Zoom calls, convincing finance teams to wire millions of dollars.

Traditional security tools struggle to detect these attacks because they focus on network traffic, malware signatures, and email filtering—not on verifying whether the person on your video call is actually who they claim to be.

imper.ai's platform detects impersonation risk in real-time by analyzing multiple security signals across network devices and digital personas. The system monitors the most commonly used communication platforms including:

Rather than waiting for suspicious activity after an attack begins, imper.ai identifies anomalies that indicate potential impersonation—unusual login patterns, device inconsistencies, behavioral changes, or digital persona mismatches that suggest someone isn't who they claim to be.

The company emphasizes that its platform ensures privacy and accuracy while monitoring communications. Instead of recording or storing conversation content, imper.ai analyzes metadata and behavioral patterns to detect threats without accessing sensitive information.

This privacy-conscious approach addresses a major concern with security monitoring—how to protect organizations without creating surveillance systems that erode employee privacy and trust.

Social engineering remains the most successful attack vector in cybersecurity. Despite billions spent on firewalls, antivirus software, and network security, attackers consistently bypass technical defenses by manipulating people. AI-powered impersonation amplifies this threat exponentially by making attacks more convincing and scalable.

The $28 million investment reflects investor recognition that as AI makes impersonation attacks more sophisticated, traditional security approaches become inadequate. Organizations need real-time detection systems specifically designed for this emerging threat category.

The funding round's leadership by Redpoint Ventures and Battery Ventures—two prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms with strong cybersecurity portfolios—signals confidence in imper.ai's approach. These firms have backed successful security companies and understand the market's evolution toward AI-driven threats.

Additional participation from Maple VC, Vessy VC, and Cerca Partners demonstrates broad investor interest in next-generation cybersecurity solutions addressing AI-enabled attacks.

imper.ai's launch comes as organizations increasingly recognize AI-driven impersonation as a critical threat. With remote work making video calls and digital communications central to business operations, the attack surface for impersonation has expanded dramatically while detection methods have lagged behind attacker capabilities.