Google is showing increasing interest in the French Tech ecosystem. The latest proof comes from GV (formerly Google Ventures), the American giant’s venture capital arm, which has made its very first investment in a French startup. The Mountain View-based company has decided to back MokN, a cybersecurity specialist focused on combating credential theft.
The company has announced a $15 million Series A funding round, with Datadog joining GV among the investors. Existing backers, including British fund Moonfire and French fund Ovni Capital, also participated. Prior to this, MokN had secured a €2.6 million seed round in October 2025.
Turning the Tables on Cybercriminals
Founded in 2023 by Adrien Casteleiro, Alexis Georges, Gautier Bugeon, and Antoine Coudoux, the French startup has developed a “phish-back” technology designed to counter cybercriminals. Its solution focuses on recovering stolen credentials before they can be used.
To achieve this, MokN deploys highly realistic fake access points—such as VPN portals and webmail interfaces—that replicate a company’s digital environment. Attackers believe they are accessing the target organization, when in reality they are surrendering the stolen credentials. This allows security teams to neutralize the attack before it can be carried out. In other words, the cybercriminal becomes the victim of their own scheme.
“With their first product, Baits, they have developed a sophisticated tool that shifts the balance against attackers by using highly realistic decoys to trigger immediate and automated recovery processes. We believe their approach will be a game-changer for organizations seeking to stop credential theft before it escalates,” said Luna Schmid, Partner at GV.
New Products in the Pipeline
To date, MokN protects more than one million users on behalf of 35 customers, including several CAC 40 companies. The company plans to use the new funding to significantly increase its R&D investments and develop additional products, particularly to enhance customer account protection as well as the security of stolen cookies and hijacked sessions.
Its long-term objective is to build a comprehensive platform dedicated to identity theft protection, enabling MokN to become a leading player in “Active Identity Recovery,” a proactive approach to recovering compromised identities.
“The rapid adoption by major enterprises and the results achieved with our first solution confirmed one thing: this approach needs to go further,” said Gautier Bugeon, Co-founder and CEO of MokN.
Expansion into the United States and the United Kingdom
The company also aims to accelerate its international expansion, primarily across Europe and the United States. New markets, including the United Kingdom, are now in its sights. As part of its growth strategy, MokN plans to hire around 30 additional employees by 2027.
“We believe MokN is creating a new control layer in cybersecurity, and this funding round gives them the resources to establish themselves globally in the active identity recovery market, starting with the United States and the United Kingdom,” said Akshat Goenka, Partner at Moonfire.
Through this expansion, the French startup hopes to strengthen the balance of power between attackers and their targets in the field of phishing, which remains the leading entry point for cyberattacks on corporate information systems.
