Azonic raises pre-seed backing for online crime platform

Azonic has raised a pre-seed funding round backed by Blackbird, Antler and several angel investors. Investigators in Australia, New Zealand and the US are already using its platform.

The round also included Jamie Beaton, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Crimson Education; Eliot Crowther, Co-Founder of Pushpay; and Jovan Pavlicevic, Founder of Emerge. Azonic did not disclose the size of the investment.

The start-up is developing an intelligence platform for law enforcement and intelligence agencies investigating online crime, including child exploitation, sextortion, fraud and violent extremism. It brings together reports, case files and intelligence data that often sit in separate systems.

Azonic was founded by Chief Executive Officer Caden Scott and Chief Technology Officer Thomas Holdom. Scott previously founded the International Online Crime Coordination Centre, a non-profit linking law enforcement agencies with major online platforms to address online crime. Holdom has built AI systems for regulated organisations.

Advisory board

Azonic is also introducing an advisory board that includes Michael Hurley, formerly of the CIA and Palantir, and Brad Brekke, Founding Director of the FBI's Office of the Private Sector.

The platform is intended to help investigators connect intelligence across jurisdictions and online services. Its software includes a virtual analyst designed to pursue leads, link cases and draft investigative outputs.

Online crime investigations have become more complex as offending spans platforms and borders, while agencies still need to meet evidential standards for court proceedings. Azonic argues that the gap has widened as criminal networks adopt more automated methods.

Blackbird's James Palmer outlined the investor's view of the founders and the market need.

"Online crime is scaling faster than the systems built to investigate it, and Azonic is tackling that gap with technology designed specifically for the realities of investigative work. Caden brings rare firsthand exposure to the problem through his work building IOC3, while Thomas brings deep experience building AI systems for complex organisations. Together, they're a potent combination of industry expertise and technical capability needed to take on a problem of this scale, and we're excited to back them," said James Palmer of Blackbird.

Brekke said his experience at the FBI had shown both the pace of cyber threats and the limits of older methods.

"In my former role with the FBI, I observed first hand the speed and scale of threats emerging from the cyber world. I also saw the limitations of traditional methods to identify and track those threats. When I was introduced to Azonic and saw what Caden and Thomas had developed, I was impressed by their innovative platform and their personal commitment to assisting law enforcement. Azonic provides a powerful new tool for the intelligence community to stay ahead of threats," said Brad Brekke, Founding Director of the FBI's Office of the Private Sector.

Market focus

Hurley pointed to the potential size of the law enforcement market, particularly in North America and Europe, as agencies look for tools to handle online crime investigations.

"Azonic's unified intelligence platform will be an essential and invaluable tool for agencies around the world investigating online crime. As such, it has tremendous potential for growth across law enforcement and national security agencies. The United States alone has 19,000 law enforcement agencies. Canada, the UK and European countries will also constitute a large market for Azonic's unique capabilities," said Michael Hurley.

Antler also backed the round. James McClure focused on the founders' experience in investigation and AI engineering.

"We backed Azonic because Caden and Thomas have the insight to make a significant difference in the intelligence world. Caden has spent years inside the investigative world these agencies operate in, and Thomas has the AI engineering horsepower to ship the agentic tooling their customers desperately need," said James McClure.

Azonic said it is building the product with input from investigators and updating it frequently in response to operational feedback. That approach reflects the demands of specialist teams such as child protection and counter-extremism units, where case volumes can rise quickly and work often crosses borders.

Beaton, one of the angel investors in the round, described his early impression of Scott.

"I first met Caden as an inquisitive student in Business Navigators. I was blown away when he described his 'side hustle' fighting cyber crime and quickly realised his profound and burning passion for the space. The unicorn creation journey requires relentless obsession, and Caden has that. We are delighted to support him," said Jamie Beaton, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Crimson Education.