By Riley Kaminer
If Miami Vice were rebooted for the digital age, it might feature a team like CAT Labs – except instead of chasing drug lords on speedboats, they’d be hunting down cybercriminals on blockchain networks.
This South Florida startup is bringing cutting-edge technology to the fight against modern crime, tackling everything from cryptocurrency fraud to AI-driven schemes. Founded by former DEA Special Agent Lili Infante, CAT Labs is on a mission to help law enforcement keep up with digital criminals who exploit emerging technologies.
The company has just announced that it has raised $5.4 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by M13, a Miami venture capital firm, alongside pre-seed investors Castle Island Ventures, CMT Digital, and Hash3. The funding will fuel CAT Labs’ efforts to provide tools that allow law enforcement to track, seize, and recover illicit assets while dismantling decentralized criminal networks.
Cybercrime has evolved into a global epidemic, with damages expected to surpass $10 trillion by 2025. Criminal networks now use cryptocurrency to conceal their operations and AI to scale their activities, leaving traditional deterrence methods far behind. In 2023, cyberattacks impacted more than 343 million victims, and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported $12.5 billion in losses: 257% increase from 2019.
Reflecting on her time at the DEA, Infante [pictured above] told Fortune: “One of the main things that really alarmed me is the pace at which cryptocurrency and other technology was adopted by all these different criminal networks, including adversarial nation states, terrorists, and drug cartels. I just realized that we, the good guys, cannot keep up with the bad guys anymore.”
Infante, drawing on her years of experience tackling drug cartels and criminal organizations, recognized the need for a tech-savvy approach to crime-fighting. “Traditional methods of deterrence are outdated, and we aim to bridge the gap by providing the technology and education needed to fight these threats head-on.”
Karl Alomar, a partner at M13, emphasized the importance of CAT Labs’ work. “With criminals, drug cartels, and even hostile nation-states using cryptocurrency and AI to scale their illicit operations, CAT Labs provides the critical tools we need to combat these evolving threats,” he said.
CAT Labs’ tools are already making an impact. Recovery CAT, the company’s flagship product, automates cryptocurrency investigations, enabling law enforcement to identify and seize illicit assets faster than ever before. By simplifying this process, CAT Labs helps agencies recover stolen funds and return them to victims – a critical step in disrupting criminal networks. Additionally, the company offers a Digital Asset Seizure Certification Course, equipping investigators with the skills needed to handle cases involving cryptocurrency and other digital assets.
The startup’s team includes former investigators, analysts, and technologists from agencies like Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. Members of the team have collectively contributed to over 1,000 asset seizures and dismantled more than 300 criminal organizations.
CAT Labs is also looking ahead to future threats, such as quantum computing. With support from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the company is developing quantum-resistant technology to protect cryptographic keys, ensuring that law enforcement remains equipped to address the next wave of technological challenges.
For Infante, the fight against cybercrime is both urgent and personal.
“If left unchecked, the rise of cryptocurrency-enabled crime will only intensify, and cybercriminals will increasingly use AI to automate attacks, create synthetic identities, and evade law enforcement on a massive scale,” she said.
“With this funding, we’re not just building a company,” Infante added. “We’re building a future where our public servants can keep pace with our enemies who don’t play by the rules.”
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