U.S. venture capital firm 21Ventures has provided an undisclosed amount of seed funding for CogniSafe.
Israeli-based CogniSafe develops anti-cheating software for online games. The software is real-time, meaning that as gamers enable cheats, the program will detect and promptly kick out the players from the game.
Gaming cheats can vary from auto-aim features to invisibility and even invincibility. While cheating in a single player game may suck a lot of the fun out of the game, that choice only really affects the individual player.
In an online gaming environment, though, especially a competitive one, cheating makes the game unfair for other players. The skewing of the playing field can drive players away, lower the number of players, and–from a business standpoint–result in the loss of profits.
The CogniSafe funding will go toward sales, marketing, and product development, the company said Monday.
CogniSafe’s software works with a wide range of online games, while allowing for custom restrictions set on a title-to-title basis. The software also doesn’t rely on previous knowledge of specific cheating methods, opting instead for semantic technology that analyzes general behavior in real time and sends an alert when something is off.
“The online gaming market is a rapidly growing market and we believe that CogniSafe is well-positioned to become a key in helping keep the integrity of the online gaming environments, thereby supporting a continued growth of this market to the benefit of the players and the online games providers,” 21Ventures Managing Partner David Anthony said in an email.