We are on a mission to help proactively prevent harm in the digital age through technology, tools, and education.
Garbo was founded in 2018 by Kathryn Kosmides after she realized the opportunity to bring people, platforms, and policymakers together to redefine safety in the digital age. She knew firsthand the problems victims face when reporting and the lack of deterrence and accountability for perpetrators. She wanted to develop a new kind of safety system that helped connect the dots between detecting and reporting a bad actor.
During these early years, she brought a group of incredible volunteers together, pitched to everyone who would hear her vision, and placed as a finalist in a top accelerator program.
In 2021, we received sponsorship funding and donations from Match Group and others to help build our new kind of online background check platform. We continuously work with dozens of experts and advocates across technology, policy, legal, and social justice to help build our technology that aims to find the balance of privacy and protection in the digital age.
Since launching Garbo, we’ve helped over 1 million people through our technology, tools, and education… and we’re just getting started.
Over 1 in 3 women, 1 in 4 men, and 1 in 2 trans individuals in the US experiencing rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime — resulting in over 12,000,000 victims per year that costs to the US economy over $8.3 billion.
Studies show that gender-based violence offenders often start in adolescence and without treatment can commit up to 380 separate acts of violence in their lifetime. Up to 71% of this type of bad actors are serial offenders who will have on average 11+ victims in their lifetime.
The data continuously shows that traditional legal systems harm victims while enabling perpetrators to cause further harm. If a victim does report, there is less than a 5% chance that the perpetrator will have a record that appears on an average background check.
We partner with organizations and associations to help further our mission of proactively preventing online harm.
.png)
.png)
.png)
If you are looking to learn more about partnering with Garbo or are interested in connecting with our leadership team, please contact us below.
If you are a user of Garbo's platform and have a question, please reach out to our customer support team.
.png)
