Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Matteo Bogana, CEO & Co-Founder at Cleafy, an online fraud prevention platform that has raised $12 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
- Origins of Cleafy: Matteo was inspired to start Cleafy after being told that solving certain cybersecurity problems was scientifically impossible. Their breakthrough in real-time content verification on web pages sparked the company's inception.
- Early Challenges: The initial years for Cleafy were tough due to the premature market for their technology. Matteo and his team struggled to gain the first customer, working hard to create market conditions favorable for their product.
- Customer Traction: Gaining the trust of early customers was difficult, especially as a new entity competing against established companies. Building credibility took significant effort through meetings and consensus building.
- Customer Base Evolution: Today, Cleafy targets mid to large financial institutions with structured fraud management teams, indicating a shift from startups to more established entities.
- Differing Approaches to Startups and Corporates: The messaging for startups, particularly fintechs, differs as they typically understand and value integrated cybersecurity and fraud management solutions more quickly than traditional banks.
- Marketing Philosophy: Cleafy’s marketing strategy involves creating trust through knowledge sharing, leveraging their Clifi Labs to provide insights and threat intelligence directly to potential customers and at high-profile security events.