05 Apr VC Report, Vol. 4, No. 1: Cybersecurity Venture Capital Investments In The Latest Quarter
Startups and emerging players with fresh funding in the latest quarter
– Toronto, Canada – Apr. 1, 2019
This year opened with a promising first quarter for the cybersecurity sector – which saw strong deal flow both in terms of the number of transactions and their valuation. January opened with news that China-based 360 Enterprise Security Group closed 900 million yuan ($131.2 million) in a Series B round, and California-based OneLogin secured $100 million in growth financing. Read on to learn about these, and the other most notable deals that were announced in Q1 2019.
DEAL FLOW
March
Mar. 27. GreyNoise Intelligence, founded by Andrew Morris, announced that the company has completed a $600,000 seed financing.
Mar. 26. Sayata Labs announced that it has emerged from stealth with $6.5 million in seed funding. Funding was led by Elron, an Israeli early-stage venture capital firm.
Mar. 25. CyberX announced that it has raised $18 million in a strategic funding round led by Qualcomm Ventures LLC and Inven Capital.
Mar. 25. The innogy Innovation Hub announced that it has closed a seed investment round in FirstPoint Mobile Guard (FirstPoint). Financial terms were not disclosed.
Mar. 20. C5 Capital led a $17 million Series B financing round in Blue Cedar, a security integration platform. Existing Blue Cedar investors, Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV), Generation Ventures, Grayhawk Capital and Sway Ventures, also participated in the round.
Mar. 20. Edison Partners, the growth equity investment firm, announced leading a $26 million funding round in Las Vegas-based company NS8.
Mar. 13. Israeli cybersecurity startup Cymulate announced that it completed a Series A funding round of $7.5 million led by Dell Technologies Capital and Vertex Ventures. Additional participation came from Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE) and Eyal Gruner, who previously led the seed rounds for Cymulate.
Mar. 12. Cyemptive Technologies, Inc. emerged from stealth with $3.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by private backers.
Mar. 5. RackTop Systems announced it has closed $15 million in Series A funding. The financing was led by Razor’s Edge Ventures and Grotech Ventures with participation from Maryland Venture Fund, Blu Venture Investors and Gula Tech Adventures.
Mar. 5. Ontario-based cybersecurity firm eSentire announced $47 million in funding led by global private equity firm Warburg Pincus and minority investors Georgian Partners and Edison Partners.
Mar. 4. KnowBe4 announced a Series C funding round that valued the company at more than $800 million. The round was led by global investment firm KKR, with participation from Ten Eleven Ventures.
Mar. 4. Mocana announced it has raised $15 million in funding from Sway Ventures, with existing investors Shasta Ventures and ForgePoint Capital participating. This brings the company’s total venture capital raised to $105 million.
Mar. 1. Ordr, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based startup network-level cybersecurity platform, raised $16.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by TenEleven Ventures, with participation from Wing Ventures and Unusual Ventures.
February
Feb. 28. Socure, a provider of identity verification and fraud prevention services, announced it has raised $30 million in Series C funding led by Scale Venture Partners. Previous investors participating in the round include Commerce Ventures, Flint Capital, Two Sigma Ventures and Synchrony, as well as new investor Sorenson Capital.
Feb. 28. Contrast Security announced it has completed a $65 million Series D funding round led by new investor, Warburg Pincus. Existing investors, including Battery Ventures, General Catalyst, M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund), AXA Venture Partners and Acero Capital also participated.
Feb. 27. Sequoia Capital has led a $42 million funding round in Tessian, a cybersecurity startup headquartered in London. Latitude, Balderton Capital, and Accel also participated in the round.
Feb. 27. Cequence Security secured $17 million in Series B funding, bringing total funding for the company to $30M. The new round was led by Dell Technologies Capital with additional participation from Shasta Ventures.
Feb. 27. Ionic Security Inc. closed a $40 million Series E financing round led by financial services leader JPMorgan Chase & Co., with participation by Google LLC as a new investor.
Feb. 27. SpyCloud has secured $21 million in new capital. The Series B round was led by M12, Microsoft’s venture fund. New investor Altos Ventures and existing investors Silverton Partners and March Capital Partners also contributed.
Feb. 27. Anitian, a cloud security and compliance automation company, announced that it has secured $11 million in Series A funding from ForgePoint Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that specializes in investing in cybersecurity startups.
Feb. 26. Stellar Cyber, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based security analytics provider, raised $13.2 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Valley Capital Partners, with participation from existing investor Northern Light Venture Capital, as well as new strategic investor Digital Hearts and other investors.
Feb. 26. Bishop Fox closed $25 million in Series A funding from ForgePoint Capital.
Feb. 26. Cmd announced the completion of a Series B $15 million funding round led by GV (formerly Google Ventures), with participation from Expa, Amplify Partners and additional strategic investors.
Feb. 26. SecureSky, Inc., a cloud security management company, has completed a seed financing round of $6.5 million, provided by a group of veteran cybersecurity practitioners and investors.
Feb. 20. Armorblox raised $16.5 million in new funding, and launched out of stealth mode. The California-based startup raised Series A funding from General Catalyst, with participation from Point72 Ventures. Other previous investors include A Capital and a host of angel investors.
Feb. 19. nsKnox announced the completion of a $15 million Series A funding round. The funding was led by Viola Ventures and M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, with the participation of Discount Capital and previous seed investors.
Feb. 19. Blockchain security company CipherTrace raised $15 million in venture capital from Aspect Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Neotribe Ventures, and WestWave Capital.
Feb. 12. Axonius announced a $13 million series A funding round, led by Bessemer Venture Partners. There was also participation from existing investors YL Ventures, Vertex, WTI and Emerge.
Feb. 12. Chainalysis, the leading provider of cryptocurrency compliance and investigation solutions, has secured a $30 million Series B financing round led by Accel.
Feb. 11. PerimeterX secured $43 million in Series C funding. Scale Venture Partners led the round with participation from existing investors Canaan Partners, Vertex Ventures and Data Collective (DCVC). They were joined by new investor Adams Street Partners.
Feb. 7. Illumio announced that it raised $65 million in a Series E funding round led by J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Feb. 6. California-based vArmour announced that it has raised $44 million in Series E funding. AllegisCyber and NightDragon led the round, with participation from existing investors.
Feb. 5. Blue Hexagon Inc., a network protection startup led by Qualcomm Inc. veterans, announced that it has secured $31 million in funding from venture capital heavyweights Benchmark and Altimeter Capital.
Feb. 5. Signal Sciences announced that it has raised $35 million in Series C funding. The round is led by Lead Edge Capital, with participation from existing investors CRV, Index Ventures, Harrison Metal and OATV.
Feb. 1. Comcast’s venture capital arm led a $20 million Series B financing round for Aporeto, a California-based provider of security services for cloud-based applications and networks, the companies announced this week.
January
Jan. 31. Romania-based TypingDNA raised $1.5M in seed funding. Backers included GapMinder Venture Partners and Gecad Ventures.
Jan. 30. ComplyAdvantage has raised $30 million in a Series B fundraising round led by Index Ventures, with support from existing investor, Balderton Capital.
Jan. 29. Israeli cybersecurity company Cato Networks Ltd. has completed a $55 million investment round led by California-headquartered Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Jan. 29. Salt Security, an API protection company, announced it has raised $10 million in funding for its patented AI-based API protection platform. The funding round includes investments from Israel-based S Capital, Kevin Mahaffey, co-founder of Lookout and expert at Y Combinator, and Marius Nacht, the chairman and co-founder of Check Point Software.
Jan. 29. Medigate, a dedicated medical device security and asset management platform, announced the completion of a $15 million Series A financing round led by new investor U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) with participation by current investors YL Ventures and Blumberg Capital.
Jan. 28. Featurespace, a provider of Adaptive Behavioral Analytics for fraud detection and risk management, has raised $32.3 million from a funding round led by Insight Venture Partners and MissionOG.
Jan. 23. Anchorage, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed crypto custody provider, came out of stealth mode after a year and a half. The firm, which is also backed by Max Levchin, Elad Gil, Mark McCombe of Blackrock, and AngelList’s Naval Ravikant, raised $17 million in a Series A funding round.
Jan. 21. Transatlantic venture capital investor, Beringea, announced that it has led a £6.5 million investment in Exonar, a data discovery and management software firm. Downing Ventures, the early stage investor, also participated in the round alongside notable existing investors, Amadeus Capital Partners and Winton Ventures.
Jan. 16. Foretellix, an Israeli startup automating the verification and measurable safety of autonomous vehicles, announced it has closed $14 million of Series A funding. The round was led by 83North, Jump Capital, and Nextgear Ventures.
Jan. 15. Sonrai Security launched with $18.5 million in Series A funding. Polaris Partners and TenEleven Ventures led the round.
Jan. 15. Rubrik, a cloud data management company, announced a $261 million Series E investment round with new investor Bain Capital Ventures, and strong participation from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, and IVP.
Jan. 14. Authenteq, the creator of the blockchain identity verification technology Trollteq, raised $5 million in funding. The funding was led by Draper Associates and Capital300.
Jan. 14. Syncurity announced the second and final close of its $2 million institutional investment round. The round was initially led by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) before closing oversubscribed with the addition of Kluz Ventures, through its fund The Next Impact, and SixThirty CYBER.
Jan. 14. Immersive Labs, a cybersecurity training platform founded by a former GCHQ researcher, has raised $8 million in a Series A funding round led by Goldman Sachs.
Jan. 10. OneLogin announced that it closed $100 million in growth financing. The financing was led by new investors Greenspring Associates and Silver Lake Waterman, Silver Lake’s late-stage growth capital fund. The round also includes existing investors CRV, Scale Venture Partners, and Blue Cloud Ventures
Jan. 9. China-based 360 Enterprise Security Group, an internet security firm, has closed a 900 million yuan ($131.2 million) Series B round. The round brings 360 Enterprise’s valuation to $3 billion.
Jan. 3. Capricorn Venture Partners invested €3 million in identity and access management business miaa Guard. Pamica, an investment vehicle backed by Clear2Pay co-founder Michel Akkermans has also joined the round.
– Morag McGreevey is a freelance writer covering cybersecurity, national security, VC deals, and investing.
