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The 2024 report—commissioned by Paladin Capital Group and completed by PUBLIC’s Online Safety team with the support of Perspective Economics and leading cyberpsychologist and Paladin’s Chief Scientist Safety Tech, Dr. Mary Aiken— finds that the international Safety Tech sector has grown steadily against a background of ever-evolving online threats and new compliance demands on digital businesses.

“With threat actors increasingly spreading disinformation, extremism, and illegal content, and exploiting AI in, for example, the generation of deepfakes, it is encouraging that this report shows the global Safety Tech sector is steadily growing and expanding to a host of new countries,” said Dr. Mary Aiken, Paladin Chief Scientist Safety Tech and Member of Strategic Advisory Group. “Safety Tech solutions offer a means to leverage cutting-edge technologies to protect people worldwide and tackle problematic, harmful, and criminal activities online. Through tech-facilitated solutions, we can foster a safer and more secure cyberspace —for today and for the future.”

This International State of Safety Tech report builds off the 2023 analysis, providing updated data and examining new solutions in the market. Through a combination of expert interviews, an industry survey, desk research, and quantitative market analysis, the researchers found:

• The online Safety Tech sector has demonstrated resilience in the face of a cooling global investment landscape. This is supported by a 14 percent year-on-year increase in the total number of Safety Tech providers globally.
• 63 percent of these Safety Tech providers have received some form of external investment, underscoring the need for ongoing financial support to drive growth and market access.
• While the U.S. and the U.K. still represent the majority of market headquarters, India, Singapore, and Vietnam are emerging as leaders in the south and southeast Asian Safety Tech communities.
• Within the AI-centric sector, access to high-quality, representative training data remains a major pain point.
• New legislation has been introduced by the US, India, and Australia, with many platforms taking a “wait and see” attitude to the impact of the legislation.
• This report has found evidence to support an emerging Irish Safety Tech sector. Findings suggest that approximately one in 12 Trust & Safety professionals worldwide are based in Ireland; therefore, Ireland has the potential to become an international leader in the Safety Tech sector, building on its reputation as a global digital hub with a strong multinational cybersecurity presence
• Safety Tech firms have been significantly impacted by AI trends with evolving offerings for foundation models.

“The Safety Tech sector continues to experience unprecedented growth with the help of GenAI tools and improved data sharing,” said Alex de Carvalho, CEO & Co-Founder at PUBLIC. “We are at a critical juncture where innovative technology must serve the interests of the public sector and place humans at the center of the digital revolution.”

“Everyone is more online than ever before and we need a new ‘social contract’ for cyberspace to foster shared responsibility to address existing vulnerabilities and emerging threats,” said Chris Inglis, Paladin Capital Group Senior Strategic Advisor and former U.S. National Cyber Director. “Most importantly, safety tech can protect the most critical infrastructure – human infrastructure. This report highlights that the Safety Tech market is developing specialized technologies to counter AI-facilitated threats and cyber fraud, bolstering our global resilience.”

“This past year, Paladin Capital Group formalized a set of investment principles and high-level commitments to promote the trusted, safe, and secure development and use of growing cyber capabilities, such as AI technologies,” said Chris Steed, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Director of Paladin Capital Group. “We have a fundamental responsibility to protect humans who operate within the digital landscape, and this report shows that the safety tech industry needs more external investment to continue to thrive. Venture capital and private equity firms across the globe are beginning to harness the vast opportunities within this sector, and we hope that the industry’s consistent growth will encourage further investments in the market.”

Informed by its findings, the report provides eight recommendations for investors, governments, regulators, international bodies, and Safety Tech providers, customers, and platforms to drive the next wave of growth in the sector internationally. Through this yearly report, Paladin, cyberpsychologist Dr. Aiken, and PUBLIC have presented a roadmap for experts to reference in the coming years