Aslan Raises $20.8M for Undercover AI Agents in Criminal Forums

Aslan says two of its AI agents ran autonomously for 21 days inside a Telegram section where six people were coordinating smuggling across the US-Mexico border.

That is the story the Washington, DC startup used to come out of stealth with $20.8 million, Axios reported. Khosla Ventures and XYZ Venture Capital led the round, with 2048 Ventures, BoxGroup, Liquid2 and Alumni Ventures also participating.

Aslan's product is what its founders call a "harness," an environment that "coordinates AI models used by intelligence agencies and law enforcement to collect digital evidence," per Axios. Inside it, agents work criminal forums and Telegram channels with logic CEO Chase Reid likens to an FBI analyst or undercover operative. Reid started the company with Ansel Tessier after both left jobs at Bain Capital and JP Morgan. The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and other agencies have already run short evaluations. Reid told Axios the systems remain under human supervision, and that Aslan will not operate against US citizens or run domestic surveillance.

The round funds an expansion of Aslan's roughly ten-person team and the hiring of forward-deployed engineers who can sit inside agency facilities during specific missions.

The deal arrives in a busy stretch for defense-adjacent AI. The Pentagon this week added ChatGPT Mil and Grok to GenAI.mil, skipping Anthropic.