09 Apr VC Report, Vol. 2, No. 4: Brisk VC Funding Of Cybersecurity Startups In Fourth Quarter Of 2017
Sausalito, Calif. – Jan. 3, 2018
Cybersecurity occupied a prominent place in 2017. Between the Russian election hacks, Equifax scandal, and almost daily news of smaller attacks, there is no doubt that 2017 was a seminal year for cybersecurity. The market’s insatiable appetite for venture capital reflected a growing awareness of cybersecurity’s central importance. Deal flow and valuations were strong right through the final quarter of the year.
“Cybercrime damages are predicted to reach $6 trillion annually by 2021, and security spending is expected to exceed $1 trillion cumulatively over the next 5 years” says Steve Morgan, founder and Editor-In-Chief at Cybersecurity Ventures. “At the end of 2016, we predicted that VCs would take another big bite into cyber firms during 2017. The investment activity throughout the last calendar year confirms our speculation.”
Read on to learn about some of the most interesting cybersecurity VC deals that occured in Q4 2017.
December
Dec. 19. Ataata, a cybersecurity training platform designed to reduce human error in the workplace, closed $3 million in Series A financing. The round was led by Next Frontier Capital, with participation from TEDCO, 2M, SaaS Ventures, and ARRA Capital, among others.
Dec. 14. Proficio completed a round of funding led by Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors. The deal’s dollar amount was not disclosed.
Dec. 13. Upstream Security, an automotive cybersecurity startup, announced a $9 million Series A funding round. The funding round was led by Charles River Ventures, with participation from existing investors.
Dec. 12. Cog announced $3.5 million in Series A funding from private investment company Grok Ventures and Australian tech venture fund rampersand.
Dec. 11. Menlo Security received $40 million in new investment from JPMorgan Chase, American Express, HSBC, Ericsson Ventures, General Catalyst, Sutter Hill Ventures, Osage University Partners, and Engineering Capital.
Dec. 11. Tempered Networks raised $7 million to fund its “identity-defined networking” technology. Investors in the round include Ignition Partners, Ridge Ventures, Rally Capital, and Fluid Capital.
Dec. 7. Alcide emerged from stealth by debiting its cloud-friendly network security platform and announcing a $5.2 million round of financing from Intel Capital and Elron.
Dec. 7. E-commerce fraud prevention solutions firm NS8 has raised $7.5 million in a seed funding round led by early-stage venture capital firm Arbor Ventures.
Dec. 7. Contrast Security landed strategic corporate investments by AXA Strategic Ventures and Microsoft Ventures, following a Series C round announced in October.
Dec. 6. Prevoty, a creator of autonomous application protection, secured $13 million in a Series B funding round, led by Trident Capital Cybersecurity.
Dec. 5. Continuum Security raised an investment round of €1.5 million, led by Swanlaab Venture Factory, a Spanish-Israeli VC fund with offices in Madrid and Tel Aviv.
Dec. 6. Tel Aviv-based Ironscales, an automated phishing prevention, detection and response provider, secured $6.5 million in Series A funding. K1 Investment Management LLC led the round with participation from return backer RDC.
Dec. 4. At-Bay launched out of stealth mode late and announced $6 million from a seed funding round led by LightSpeed Venture Partners.
Dec. 1. Criptext, a startup provides secure email and messaging for governments and large enterprises, raised $1.2 million in financing from an undisclosed investor.
November
Nov. 29. Pwnie Express, a company focused on the IoT security gap, secured $8 million in funding from existing investors.
Nov. 29. Terbium Labs, a startup that scans the dark web for stolen information, raised $6 million in a funding round led by Glasswing Ventures.
Nov. 29. ReversingLabs has closed a $25 million Series A funding round, led by Trident Capital Cybersecurity and JPMorgan Chase. In related news, Sean Cunningham of Trident Capital Cybersecurity will join the company’s Board of Directors.
Nov. 21 SCADAfence, an Israeli IoT cybersecurity company, raised $10 million in Series A financing. Investors included Jerusalem Venture Partners, NexStar Partners, 31Ventures and Global innovation Fund.
Nov. 16. NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. invested an undisclosed amount in CounterTack, a provider of behaviour and memo-based Endpoint Detection and Response technology.
Nov. 16. Tortuga Logic raised $2 million in seed funding from Eclipse Ventures to fund their chip-level system security technology.
Nov. 15. ReFirm Labs secured $1.5 million in seed-stage capital from DataTribe.
Nov. 14. Israeli startup Medigate announced $5.35 million seed funding round led by YL Ventures and Blumberg Capital. Medigate plans to continue developing its medical device security platform.
Nov. 14. WireWheel.io, the developer of a cloud-based data privacy and protection platform, completed a $3.1 million seed round of funding led by PSP Growth.
Nov. 13. ThreatQuotient completed a Series C round, receiving $30 million in new financing led by Adams Street Partners.
Nov. 7. NeuVector raised $7 million in Series A funding in a round led by Nummer Winblad Venture Partners.
Nov. 9. EclecticIQ announced a Series B investment of €14 million. The investment round is led by Keen Ventures Partners, with participation from existing investors.
Nov. 9. Enveil, a data security company, secured $4 million in strategic funding. The investment was led by Thomson Reuters.
Nov. 6. MetricStream completed a $65 million financing round led by Santa Monica-based Clearlake Capital.
Nov. 3. NuID raised $1.64 million in seed funding. The investment was led by Jemison Investment, 8VC, and several angel investors.
Nov. 1. BigPanda Inc. raised an additional $23 million in Series B funding – expanding the round to a total of $49 million. Leading this round is Greenfield Partners.
October
Oct. 31. Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, landed $25 million in a Series E round of funding led by Insight Venture Partners.
Oct. 25. Skybox Security, a cybersecurity management company, has raised $150 million in growth equity investment from CVC Capital Partners’ Growth Fund and Pantheon.
Oct. 25. PacketSled, a company that provides customers with automated network visibility, detection, incident response, and forensics in the cloud, announced a $5 million Series A round of financing led by Keshif Ventures.
Oct. 24. Nanolock Security Inc., a company that specializes in protecting connected and IoT devices against malware attacks, received $4.5 million from the Awz Homeland Security Fund, a Canadian venture capital fund that invests exclusively in Israeli cyber security, intelligence, and physical security technology.
Oct. 24. Averon, a developer of mobile identity verification technology, closed a $8.3 million Series A financing round headed by Avalon Ventures.
Oct. 24. KnowBe4, which operates in the security awareness and simulated phishing attack market, secured $30 million in growth capital financing, in a round led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity group and Elephant. The company’s total financing has now hit $44 million.
Oct. 23. Shift Technology completed a $28 million Series B funding round, with investment from Accel, General Catalyst, Elaia Partners and Iris Capital.
Oct. 23. Wells Fargo & Company announced that innovative cybersecurity software startup SimSpace has joined the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator.
Oct. 19. Contrast Security, a pioneer in self-protecting software with security safeguards built into applications, completed a $30 million Series C financing round. It was led by new investor Battery Ventures.
Oct. 19. Intezer, a startup focusing on malware and detection, raised $8 million in Series A funding, in a round led by Intel Capital. Magma and Samsung NEXT were co-investors.
Oct. 18. Duo Security joined the billion-dollar startup club by closing $70 million in a Series D funding round led by Meritech Capital Partners and Lead Edge Capital. The company’s valuation now reaches $1.17 billion.
Oct. 17. Feedzai, a company that harnesses artificial intelligence to manage risk and fight fraud, secured a $50 Series C funding round led by an undisclosed investor. Existing investor Sapphire Ventures also participated in the round.
Oct. 13. Norwind Capital led a $5 million capital raise into Munich-based cybersecurity software company DriveLock.
Oct. 13. Blue Hexagon attracted the attention of Benchmark. The venture firm just lead a $6 million Series A round, marking Blue Hexagon’s first institutional funding round.
Oct. 12. Cybersecurity rating and risk-monitoring platform SecurityScorecard has raised $27.5 million in a Series C round of funding led by Nokia’s global venture capital arm, Nokia Growth Partners.
Oct. 11. Shift Left, a cloud security company, closed a $9.3 million Series A funding round, led by Bain Capital Ventures and Mayfield.
Oct. 11. Attivo Networks, which provides deception solutions for cybersecurity defense, raised $21 million in Series C venture capital funding. The round was led by Trident Capital Cybersecurity with participation from existing investors Bain Capital Ventures and Omidyar Technology Ventures.
Oct. 5. Evernym, a developer of self sovereign identity technologies, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Outlier Ventures.
Cybersecurity Ventures expects to see significant VC and corporate investor deal flow in the cybersecurity space for 2018.
– Morag McGreevey is a freelance writer covering cybersecurity, national security, VC deals, and investing.
