Bot Attack Prevention Company Kasada Raises $23 Million in Series C Funding

By Annie Baker ● Dec 14, 2021
  • Kasada — a provider of the most effective and easiest way to defend against advanced bot attacks —announced $23 million in Series C funding. These are the details.

Kasada — a provider of the most effective and easiest way to defend against advanced bot attacks —announced $23 million in Series C funding, bringing total investment in the company to $39 million. This funding round was led by new investor StepStone Group (which recently acquired venture capital platform Greenspring Associates), with participation from existing investors Ten Eleven Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Reinventure (Westpac’s venture capital arm), Our Innovation Fund, and Turnbull & Partners.

Since the Series B funding in mid-2020, Kasada has grown its revenue by 230%. And this was achieved by expanding its go-to-market capabilities, defense platform, and operations to capitalize on demand for its cybersecurity solution within the United States. Now Kasada protects over $20 billion in eCommerce annually and stops over 5 billion monthly requests left undetected by legacy systems. Additionally, more than 85% of customers worked with other bot mitigation providers prior to engaging with Kasada’s modern approach.

The company’s recent highlights include:

— Grew its customer base by over 80% since Series B, including the addition of new Fortune 50, S&P/ASX 50, and Russell 1000 customers.

— Increased overall headcount by 140% through investments in development and U.S.-focused sales, pre-sales, marketing, and customer support capabilities.

— Achieved 97% customer retention since inception, demonstrating the lasting value Kasada’s solution provides for customers – and the company’s dedication to customer service.

— Launched V2 of its platform, incorporating major defense upgrades, which represent the R&D work from the past 18 months. The company also achieved SOC 2 compliance.

Kasada has taken a fundamentally different approach for bot mitigation, designed to overcome the challenges faced by traditional methods. And the company’s modern anti-bot solution provides immediate and long-lasting protection by frustrating and striking back at attackers. Plus it stops automated attacks in real-time, before they are ever allowed to enter an organization’s infrastructure. This is bolstered with data analysis and machine learning (ML) from billions of bot interactions.

Unlike first-generation services, Kasada’s platform doesn’t rely on configuring rules, assigning risk scores, or the CAPTCHA usage. And The platform adapts to new approaches and attacks, as bot operators constantly evolve the tactics they use against websites, mobile apps, and APIs.

The company plans to use the Series C funding to further accelerate its sales in the U.S., and grow its development, support, and marketing departments to capitalize on the increasing demand for its simple and effective approach.

KEY QUOTES:

“Businesses are tired of bot mitigation solutions that are difficult to operate, time-consuming to maintain, and cannot keep up with the latest tools bot operators use. At Kasada, we’ve set out to make application security much easier to implement and use, while also improving its effectiveness. We’ve ensured that security doesn’t get in the way of the customer experience, by eliminating friction such as CAPTCHAs that hurt online conversions – and your brand.”

— Sam Crowther, founder and CEO of Kasada

“Kasada services translate into a great experience for Sydney Opera House customers, without interrupting their experience, or introducing unnecessary friction. We have confidence that humans, not bots, are buying tickets to our events.”

— Nic Boling, Chief Technology Officer at Sydney Opera House

“Kasada has demonstrated impressive growth while expanding beyond Australia, with momentum among enterprise customers in the eCommerce, hospitality, travel, fintech, online gaming, and Internet service industries. The effect bots have on an organization’s profitability and customer experience has become a C-level concern. Kasada has raised the expectations of what an anti-bot solution should be.”

— Hunter Somerville, Partner at StepStone Group