Cybersecurity

RTC Partners Investing In Marketing Agency COMM

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 8, 2024

RTC Partners (a growth-focused private equity firm) announced an investment in COMM (formerly CommCreative), a Boston-based marketing agency specializing in digital marketing strategy, demand generation, account-based marketing, and marketing technology solutions. And COMM joins four prior RTC investments - fama PR, Intelisent, MarketBridge, and Quarry – which partners with leading brands to accelerate growth across a spectrum of client marketing and sales initiatives.

Sweet Security: Comprehensive Runtime Security Company Raises $33 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 8, 2024

Sweet Security—a company that exited stealth six months ago—announced a $33 million Series A funding round. Evolution Equity Partners led the round, which was joined by Munich Re Ventures and Glilot Capital Partners.

Claroty: Cyber-Physical Systems Protection Company Raises $100 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 7, 2024

Cyber-physical systems protection company Claroty has secured $100 million in strategic growth financing. The participants include lead equity investor Delta-v Capital and AB Private Credit Investors at AllianceBernstein, Standard Investments, Toshiba Digital Solutions, SE Ventures, Rockwell Automation, and Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank. With Claroty's existing $635 million in funding to date, this new funding further establishes the company's leadership position in the critical infrastructure cybersecurity market.

VIAVI Solutions Buying Spirent Communications In $1.28 Billion Deal: Details

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 7, 2024

VIAVI Solutions (a leading provider of communications test, measurement, and optical technologies) and Spirent Communications plc (a global provider of automated test and assurance solutions for networks, cybersecurity, and positioning) announced an agreement on the terms of a cash offer for Spirent, which the Spirent Board intends to recommend unanimously. The deal price values Spirent at about £1.005 billion (or $1.28 billion based on the British pound sterling to U.S. dollar exchange rate on March 4, 2024).

CrowdStrike Buying Flow Security: Details

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 7, 2024

CrowdStrike announced it is acquiring Flow Security, the industry’s first and only cloud data runtime security solution. And through this acquisition, CrowdStrike will enhance its modern cloud security with comprehensive real-time data protection spanning endpoint and cloud environments.

DTEX Systems: Insider Risk Management Company Raises $50 Million In Round Led By CapitalG

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 6, 2024

DTEX Systems - a global leader in insider risk management - announced that it closed $50 million in Series E funding. CapitalG, the independent growth fund of Google’s parent company, Alphabet - led the new investment round, bringing DTEX Systems’ total funding raised to $138 million. The funding round will be used to expand the company’s engineering team and grow its go-to-market (GTM) operations globally, accelerating its mission to protect global organizations from insider threats proactively.

Team8: $500 Million In Funding Raised To Invest In Companies Focused On Digital Transformation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 6, 2024

Team8 (a leading global fund that builds and invests in companies playing a crucial role in the digital transformation of major sectors) announced the closing of new funds totaling $500 million, bringing its total assets under management (AUM) to well over the $1 billion mark.

appCD: Generative Infrastructure From Code Company Secures $6 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 6, 2024

appCD announced it has unveiled early access to its generative Infrastructure from Code (IfC) software and announced $6 million in seed funding. And appCD uses application code to generate Infrastructure from Code automatically, no code annotation or extensive configuration coding required.

USC And Techstars Partnering On Accelerating Opportunities For Students, Faculty, And Alumni

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 29, 2024

The University of Southern California and Techstars will work together on accelerating opportunities for USC-affiliated entrepreneurs, including students, faculty and alumni. And USC will spark new startups and innovation under a new collaboration with Techstars, a leading pre-seed investor.

BackBox: Helping Companies Automate Complex Tasks In A $20+ Billion Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 28, 2024

BackBox is a market leader in security-centric automation for network teams. The BackBox Automation Platform for Network Teams helps companies and managed service providers worldwide automate complex tasks, ensure network health and performance, achieve business continuity, and give administrators the confidence that automation will deliver the expected outcome every time. Pulse 2.0 interviewed BackBox CEO Andrew Kahl to learn more about the company.

Verdane: Edda III Fund Closed Past Target At €1.1 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 27, 2024

The Verdane Edda III fund has closed significantly past its target at €1.1 billion, doubling its predecessor fund, Edda II. And this is the firm’s second successful fund close in six months, following the announcement of Verdane Freya XI at €1.1 billion in September 2023. Verdane’s proven platform attracted an increasingly global LP base, with US investors comprising 25% of Edda III commitments.

Palo Alto Networks: Private 5G Security Solutions With Partner Ecosystem Launched

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 27, 2024

Palo Alto Networks announced end-to-end private 5G security solutions and services in collaboration with leading Private 5G partners. Combining Palo Alto Networks enterprise-grade 5G Security and Private 5G partner integrations and services allows organizations to easily deploy, manage, and secure networks throughout the entire 5G journey.

Evergrowth: B2B Account-Based Sales Company Raises $2.2 Million And Shuts Down Sales Consultancy Business

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 26, 2024

Evergrowth - a premier AI-powered B2B account-based sales platform - announced the first fundraising of $2.2 million, making it one of the largest pre-seed rounds in Baltic history. This investment, led by Impellent Ventures and Practica Capital, demonstrated the rising influence of Baltic European SaaS startups and the need for fully optimized AI-driven strategies to enable sales and revenue teams. The company is on track to hit $500K ARR within three months of its MVP launch.

Why Delinea Is Buying Fastpath

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 24, 2024

Willkie Names Briony Pollard As Data Privacy Partner In London

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 23, 2024

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP announced that data privacy attorney Briony Pollard has joined the firm as a partner. She is based in the firm’s London office and is part of Willkie’s Privacy, Cybersecurity & Data Strategy practice group.

Highstreet Receives Investment From CIVC Partners

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

CIVC Partners (a Chicago-based middle market private equity firm focused on investments in the business services sector) has announced an investment in Highstreet IT Solutions in partnership with CEO Nick Magliato, CFO Ben Davies, and the Highstreet management team.

Device Authority: Enterprise IoT Identity And Access Management Company Secures $2 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 22, 2024

Device Authority (a global leader in identity and access management for Enterprise IoT ecosystems) announced it has secured a further $2 million in Series A funding from Prelude, the venture practice for Mercato Partners.

Why Allurity Is Buying SRLabs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 21, 2024

Allurity (a European group of leading tech-enabled cybersecurity companies) has completed the strategic acquisition of Security Research Labs (SRLabs), a globally recognized cyber consultancy based in Berlin and Hong Kong. This acquisition marks an important milestone as SRLabs brings unique expertise that enhances Allurity's market position and strengthens its capabilities to deliver a holistic cybersecurity offering.

Microsoft Expanding AI Infrastructure In Spain Via $2.1 Billion Investment

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 20, 2024

Microsoft has announced it is expanding artificial intelligence AI and cloud infrastructure with an investment of $2.1 billion over the next couple of years.

Keyfactor Surpasses $100 Million In ARR

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 19, 2024

Keyfactor - an identity-first security solution for modern enterprises - announced it has passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, demonstrating its clear position as the cybersecurity industry’s leading digital trust innovator. To drive the next chapter of hyper-growth, Keyfactor is expanding its leadership team by promoting Brandon Tubandt to Chief Customer Officer and Jamie Walker to Chief Marketing Officer.

Google Launches AI Cyber Defense Initiative To Transform Cybersecurity

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 19, 2024

Google has announced a new service offering AI tools for providing online security. Google’s new open-source resources - which is called the AI Cyber Defense Initiative - the company is continuing an investment in an AI-ready infrastructure.

Clarity: AI Cybersecurity Company Closes $16 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 18, 2024

Clarity - a company that enables organizations to rapidly identify and immunize from Deepfakes and synthetic media created by generative AI - announced a partnership with Walden Catalyst and Bessemer Ventures Partners. This additional funding will enable the company to double down on core research efforts, while providing best-in-class solutions to the most critical infrastructure in society.

Dapple Security: Cybersecurity Company Raises $2.3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Feb 18, 2024

Dapple Security recently raised $2.3 million in the pre-seed round - which has been supported by mission-driven investors who believe in Dapple's solution and mission. This round was led by First In, a company that has a strong conviction in investing in founders who are veterans of the Military and Intelligence Community.