Savi Security has raised $7 million in seed funding and launched a consumer app designed to protect families from AI-powered scams across texts, emails, voicemails and phone calls. The round was led by Acrew Capital, with participation from Magnify Ventures, TTCER and Resolute Ventures.
The company was founded by brothers Patrick and Ryan Coughlin. Patrick previously worked in national cyber defense and held senior security roles at Splunk and Cisco, while Ryan worked on consumer products at Apple and Spotify.
Savi was inspired by a scam targeting the founders’ mother. A caller spoofed their sister’s phone number, used an AI-generated version of her voice and claimed she had been kidnapped unless a ransom was paid.
AI Makes Personalised Scams Cheaper
Patrick Coughlin said the incident showed how techniques once aimed at governments and large companies are now being used against consumers. AI tools have lowered the cost of creating convincing impersonation scams, including voice clones and highly personalised messages.
The threat is growing quickly. The Federal Trade Commission said people reported losing $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, nearly triple the reported amount in 2020.
Before launching the paid app, Savi tested its detection technology through Scamwise, a free tool that checks suspicious messages, emails, photos and phone numbers. The company said Scamwise has received about 100,000 submissions, giving Savi real-world scam examples to improve its detection models.
Savi currently uses Google’s Gemini for much of its analysis, but its software is built on an AI gateway that lets the company use other models when needed. That could include models better suited to voice analysis or specific types of scam detection.
App Adds Live Call Monitoring
The new Savi app is available for iPhone and Android. It can screen texts, voicemails and incoming calls for signs of scams.
Its most unusual feature is live-call monitoring. During a suspicious call, a user can add Savi’s live agent as a listener, allowing the app to detect behavioural signs of fraud while the conversation is still happening.
Savi charges $8 a month, or $63 a year, for a family plan with no user cap. The structure is designed to let one account holder protect parents, children, spouses and other relatives who may need help spotting scams.
The company is positioning the app as a consumer security layer for the AI era. As fraudsters use generative AI to make scams more convincing, Savi is betting that consumers will need real-time AI tools to defend themselves.
Featured image credits: Magnific.com
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