Cloaked, a consumer privacy app backed by Lux Capital, today launched an AI-powered caller verification and dark web monitoring feature.
Cloaked’s caller verification feature, called Call Guard, receives a call from an unknown number and talks to the caller to understand their intentions. The tool automatically filters out spam or potentially fraudulent calls instead of relying on users to make decisions. It’s similar to what Google launched for the Pixel and what Apple plans to introduce for iOS 26 users. Third-party companies like Truecaller also use AI to verify calls.
Users can still see the full transcript of the call in real time if they want to answer it. Cloaked has already been working on developing the phone infrastructure for its identity product, which allows users to create new phone numbers to mask their real numbers. The startup uses this technology along with call forwarding to protect users from fraud.
“We try to understand the caller’s intentions using artificial intelligence, rather than just asking the caller’s name and why they are calling. According to the data shared with us by users, a large number of calls are spam and Medicare calls, as well as calls on political topics. We have also noticed that users are receiving calls from bad AI agents, and we are training our AI agent to deal with this,” said Cloaked CEO Arjun Bhatnagar.
Bhatnagar recognized that Apple and Google’s features are based on a similar premise. According to him, people sign up to try these features, but due to a lack of personalization, retention rates are low, and that’s where startups like Cloaked can come in.
While handling inbound calls is the first step for Cloaked, the company wants to introduce an outbound call feature that uses AI bots to hold the line when calling customer support or booking appointments. Cloaked is also working on an eSIM product.
In addition, the startup produces a dark web monitor for personal data. The company monitors various sources, such as data brokers, malicious websites, compromised sites, dark web forums, Discord, and Telegram, for user data leaks. The tool searches for names, addresses, social security numbers, email addresses, family members, passports, and driver’s licenses.
It shows users a warning when it finds such data leaks. The company also categorizes these leaks into active/recent events and historical events, helping users take action to protect their data.
The company also has a data takedown program through which users can request that sites and data brokers delete their data. Cloaked sends programmatic and legal requests to these sites. The startup said it has helped users get rid of more than 170 million online records.
Cloaked said it has added more than 100,000 paying customers since the beginning of the year and is showing strong growth month over month.
The startup has raised $29 million in funding until 2023. Bhatnagar said that the company has received an additional $11 million in funding from existing and new investors, but it is not identifying the round or disclosing new investors as it plans to close the official round by the end of this year.
