Confident Security exits stealth with $4.2M to deliver confidential AI beyond Apple-level privacy
Jul 17, 2025 with Jonathan Mortensen
Key Points
- Confident Security exits stealth with $4.2M seed round led by Decibel Commons, building encryption technology that cryptographically blocks AI models from logging, training on, or sharing user data.
- The company backs its architecture with unlimited liability for data breaches, a guarantee CEO Jonathan Mortensen says is viable because even Confident Security cannot decrypt submitted data.
- Mortensen frames AI data misuse as systemic risk and targets biotech, legal, finance, and defense sectors, citing the OpenAI ruling to retain deleted user data as proof enterprises need technical, not contractual, guarantees.
Summary
Confident Security exits stealth with a $4.2 million seed round led by Decibel and Spark Commons, targeting enterprises that need cryptographic guarantees around AI data use rather than contractual promises. The company, founded by serial entrepreneur Jonathan Mo (known as JMo), is built on a core thesis that AI data misuse is a systemic risk, with Mo framing the threat as a potential "Cambridge Analytica times a million" if training-data incentives go unchecked.
The product works at a technical level, not a legal one. A server-side wrapper and client-side SDK combine to create a specialized encryption layer where data submitted to an AI model can only be decrypted if predefined constraints are met, including no logging, no training, and no third-party access. Confident Security backs this with unlimited liability and indemnification for data breaches and misuse, a commitment Mo says is possible because the architecture makes the data cryptographically inaccessible even to Confident Security itself.
The OpenAI court case, in which the company was ordered to retain deleted user data, is cited as a near-term catalyst accelerating enterprise caution. Target verticals include biotech, legal, finance, and defense, with an additional angle in state and local government around freedom-of-information compliance and legal privilege considerations.
The company currently has six employees and is using the launch to pivot toward revenue, with a stated priority on sales hiring. Mo, a third-time founder, frames the focus as a hard-learned lesson from prior companies.