Stealcut Raises Seed Funding to Block and Detect Deepfakes

Stealcut Raises Seed Funding to Block and Detect Deepfakes

Deepfake defense startup secures investment from Mashup Ventures and TIPS program support

Stealcut, an AI security startup specializing in deepfake prevention and detection, announced on January 11 that it has secured seed funding from Mashup Ventures. The investment amount was not disclosed.

Stealcut operates two core services: Stealcut Protect, which proactively blocks deepfake synthesis, and Stealcut Detect, which identifies AI-generated or manipulated images and videos. Unlike existing technologies that focus on post-creation detection, Stealcut’s approach embeds imperceptible signals into original photos while maintaining image quality, preventing deepfake generation at the source.

The company has successfully deployed its preemptive defense technology—previously confined to research environments—in real-world settings, confirming its effectiveness across more than 30 active deepfake websites. Stealcut signed an agreement with Seoul National University to apply protection processing to 5,800 graduation photos in 2026 and is currently in discussions with domestic broadcasters and major law firms regarding service adoption.

CEO Jeong-hoon Lee majored in computer science and economics at Seoul National University’s College of Liberal Studies and previously handled model development and service operations at an AI semiconductor company. As an amateur portrait photographer, Lee became acutely aware during the 2024 deepfake crisis that individuals had no means to protect their photos from criminal exploitation. This prompted him to co-found Stealcut with fellow Seoul National University alumni: CTO Hyun-jin Yoo and COO Gyu-won Ha, both bringing technical expertise and business acumen from their respective industries.

Stealcut has filed five patents in South Korea, the United States, and Europe. In May, the company won the SelectUSA Tech World Pitching Competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Following a recommendation from Mashup Ventures, Stealcut was also selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ TIPS (Tech Incubator Program for Startup) program, securing up to 800 million won in R&D funding.

“As major AI regulations come into effect across key countries in 2026, demand for verifying content authenticity is rapidly growing,” said Eun-woo Park, vice president at Mashup Ventures. “We believe that in the long term, deepfake prevention processing will become a standard feature of digital images. We highly value both the market outlook and the team’s capability to realize this vision.”

CEO Jeong-hoon Lee stated, “While generative tools have become mainstream and deepfake abuse is rapidly increasing, most countermeasures remain limited to detecting what has already been created. Having confirmed the performance of both proactive defense and detection in commercial environments and secured stable funding for technological advancement, we will now focus on expanding our domestic and international client base.”