Cybersecurity

Deduce: Preventing AI-Created Synthetic Identities From Committing Fraud And Passing Identity Verification

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 1, 2024

Deduce is a company that mitigates SuperSynthetic identities, which are AI-generated identities that can pass automated fraud controls, manual reviews, and other identity verification. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Deduce Vice President of Marketing Andy Sheldon to learn more about the company.

Amplifier Security: $3.3 Million Raised To Enable Security Teams To Modernize Practices

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 1, 2024

Amplifier Security announced it emerged from stealth to bridge the divide between the workforce and security with AI copilot and human-in-the-loop automation. The company also raised $3.3 million to address the last-mile security challenge with a self-healing approach that transforms how employees interact with corporate security tools. Cota Capital led this pre-seed funding round with participation from WestWave Capital and Shift Left Ventures. It also included angel investments from renowned entrepreneurs and executives.

Nagomi Security: Threat Exposure Management Company Secures $30 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 1, 2024

Nagomi Security (formerly known as Vena Security), a leader in proactive security and threat exposure management, emerged from stealth with $30 million in funding to fundamentally redefine how security teams optimize effectiveness and drive efficiency from their existing security tools. The company operated in stealth mode with a seed funding round from Team8 and the recent round was led by TCV, with participation from CrowdStrike Falcon Fund and Okta Ventures. Nagomi is also backed by leading angel investors, including Shlomo Kramer (founder of Check Point, Imperva, and Cato Networks), Nir Polak (founder of Exabeam), Guy Podjarny (founder of Snyk), and Galina Antova (founder of Claroty). This funding round will accelerate go-to-market and R&D efforts to meet the increasing global demand for proactive security and threat exposure management.

Dropzone AI: $16.85 Million Raised To Help SecOps Teams With Autonomous Investigations

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 30, 2024

Dropzone AI, a developer of AI security analysts for security operations teams, announced it has raised $16.85 million in Series A funding. Theory Ventures led the funding round, adding to the company's cohort of existing investors Decibel Partners, Pioneer Square Ventures, and In-Q-Tel (IQT). Carta CISO Garrett Held, Head of Security at Postman Joshua Scott, and Integreon President and Head of Cyber Solutions Anshu Gupta participated in the Series A round. Theory Ventures founder Tomasz Tunguz will also join the board in connection with the investment. Dropzone will use this new funding round to continue scaling its GTM motion and its engineering team.

Thomvest Ventures: An Interview With Managing Director Umesh Padval

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 30, 2024

Thomvest Ventures is a cross-stage venture capital fund based in Silicon Valley and Toronto. The firm is investing the capital of one individual Peter Thomson - whose family owns the majority of Thomson Reuters. Peter started Thomvest Ventures in 1996 and has invested in over 75 private companies since that time. Pulse 2.0 interviewed one of Thomvest’s managing directors Umesh Padval to learn more about the firm.

Upfort: Simplifying The Management And Insurance Of Cyber Risks

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 29, 2024

Upfort is a company that unifies award-winning security and robust cyber insurance to deliver comprehensive cyber risk solutions. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Upfort CEO and co-founder Xing Xin to learn more about the company.

ThreatLocker: Zero Trust Endpoint Security Solution Company Raises $115 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 28, 2024

ThreatLocker, a global cybersecurity leader offering a Zero Trust endpoint security solution, announced it has raised $115 million in Series D funding led by existing investor General Atlantic with participation from other significant investors StepStone Group and the D. E. Shaw group.

BforeAI: Predictive Security Company Closes $15 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 28, 2024

BforeAI, a predictive security pioneer, announced $15 million in Series A funding led by SYN Ventures, with renewed participation from early investors Karma Ventures, Karista, Addendum Capital, and a new investment from the Partnership Fund for New York City.

Akima: $750 Million Contract Signed To Support U.S. Air Force IT Modernization Initiatives

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 28, 2024

Akima, a provider of products and services to the federal government, announced that its subsidiary Akima Global Technology (AGT) was picked as one of two awardees on the Communications and Enterprise IT Support Services (COMET) IDIQ contract for supporting the U.S. Air Force. This award has ten years of performance and a total contract value of $750 million.

Sublime Security: AI-Powered Programmable Email Security Company Raises $20 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 28, 2024

Sublime Security, an AI-powered programmable email security platform, announced that it has raised $20 million in Series A funding. Index Ventures led the round, which included previous investors Decibel Partners and Slow Ventures.

Auburn University In Partnership With Oak Ridge National Laboratory Awarded $10 Million Department Of Energy Grant

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 27, 2024

Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security received a $10 million Department of Energy grant in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to create a pilot regional cybersecurity research and operations center to protect the electric power grid against cyber attacks. The total value of this project is $12.5 million as the additional $2.5 million comes from Auburn University and other strategic partners.

Thoma Bravo Acquiring Darktrace For $5.315 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 27, 2024

Thoma Bravo announced it had reached an agreement with the Board of Directors at Darktrace, a global leader in cybersecurity artificial intelligence (AI), to acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Darktrace in cash.

Peer Software: A Rapidly Growing Company That Enhances Data Protection And Simplifies File Management

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 26, 2024

Peer Software develops data storage solutions that address the unique challenges related to data migration, backup, replication, and collaboration in a WAN environment. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Peer Software CEO Jimmy Tam to learn more about the company.

Prophet Security: $11 Million Closed To Transform Security Operations

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 26, 2024

Prophet Security announced it emerged from stealth with $11 million in seed financing led by Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) with participation from several security leaders and angel investors.

Tigera: Providing Networking And Protection For Containers And Kubernetes In A $7+ Billion Market

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 25, 2024

Tigera provides secure networking and comprehensive protection for containers and Kubernetes. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Tigera’s President and CEO, Ratan Tipirneni, to learn more.

Quantiphi: Implementing Responsible AI To Help Companies With Automation And Simulation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 22, 2024

Quantiphi is an AI-first digital engineering company driven by the goal of reimagining and realizing transformational opportunities at the heart of the business. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Quantiphi co-founder Ritesh Patel to learn more about the company.

Hatch: Donor Engagement Solutions Company Raises $3 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 20, 2024

Hatch, a leading provider of AI-powered donor engagement solutions for nonprofits, has secured $3 million in seed funding. Differential Ventures led the round, and participants included Character, Howard Morgan, and notable angel investors. This brings Hatch's total funding to date to $5 million.

Vorlon: Third-Party API Security Company Closes $15.7 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 20, 2024

Vorlon, a leading platform for comprehensive third-party API security, announced it has raised $15.7 million in capital to further its efforts to help CISOs and their security teams proactively secure the third-party APIs their organizations consume. Accel leads this Series A round with additional support from Shield Capital and others.

Cape: Privacy-First Mobile Carrier Company Raises $61 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 19, 2024

Privacy-first mobile carrier Cape announced it raised $61 million in funding led by A* and Andreessen Horowitz. And XYZ Ventures, ex/ante, Costanoa Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Forward Deployed VC, and Karman Ventures also joined the funding round. Cape will use this funding round to build a nationwide mobile network that offers premium wireless coverage, which masks personal identifying information like names, numbers, and locations (unlike traditional carriers).

Miggo: Application Detection And Response Platform Company Raises $7.5 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 18, 2024

Miggo, a cybersecurity company introducing a Application Detection and Response (ADR) platform, announced $7.5 million in seed funding led by YL Ventures with the participation of CCL (Cyber Club London), cybersecurity leaders from Elastic and Everon, and former CISOs of Google, Zscaler and Nike. And Miggo's ADR platform addresses a critical gap in application security by enabling security teams to detect and respond to targeted application attacks.

HumanX: AI Leader Forum Company Secures $6 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

HumanX, a forum for AI leaders started by the team behind HLTH and Money20/20, announced its official debut and the annual conference. This inaugural gathering will be hosted in March 2025 and bring together C-suite leaders, decision-makers, policymakers, founders, and AI practitioners. And HumanX raised over $6 million in funding led by Primary Venture Partners, with participation from Foundation Capital, FPV Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz.

University Of Arkansas At Little Rock Receives $5 Million In Federal Funding For Cybersecurity Education

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock received $5 million in federal funding to enhance cybersecurity for the energy sector through education, workforce development, and innovation. This award comes from appropriations language authored by U.S. Sen. John Boozman (passed into law in December 2022). And the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response provided this funding.

Armis Buying Silk Security For $150 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 17, 2024

Armis announced it has acquired Silk Security for a total of $150 million and will integrate the Silk Platform into the Armis Centrix AI-based Vulnerability Prioritization and Remediation solution to enhance its capabilities and now be able to provide security teams with a consolidated view of security findings that encompass all sources of data from on-premise devices to cloud compute, code, and application security tools, and fully manage and automate remediation.

Upstream Security: Funding Raised From Cisco Investments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Upstream Security, a leading provider of cybersecurity extended detection and response (XDR) for connected vehicles and IoT announced it received an investment from Cisco Investments.

Cynomi: Leading vCISO Platform Provider Secures $20 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Cynomi, a leading vCISO platform provider for MSPs and MSSPs, announced $20 million in new funding. This funding round was led by Canaan, with Flint Capital, s16vc, and Aloniq among return investors. This funding round will also drive Cynomi's international expansion efforts, enabling the company to enhance the vCISO platform offerings and enable partners to overcome cybersecurity skills gaps and scale businesses up.

Evolution Equity Partners: $1.1 Billion Closed For Technology Fund III

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 16, 2024

Evolution Equity Partners announced the final closing of Evolution Technology Fund III, LP, and total capital commitments of $1.1 billion to invest in visionary entrepreneurs building next-generation cybersecurity companies. This fundraising was oversubscribed by existing and new limited partners, representing a mix of institutions, sovereign investors, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, fund of funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.

StrikeReady: Cybersecurity Leader Raises $12 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 10, 2024

StrikeReady—an AI pioneer advancing the way modern security teams operate—announced $12 million in funding. The Series A funding round was led by 33N Ventures, with participation from Hitachi Ventures, Monta Vista Capital, and industry luminaries Brian NeSmith, executive chairman and former CEO at Arctic Wolf, and Rod Beckstrom, former CEO of ICANN and Founding Director of U.S. National Cybersecurity Center (now CISA).

Lockchain: Blockchain Risk Management Platform Closes $4.6 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 9, 2024

Lockchain.ai, an AI-powered Blockchain Risk Management platform, announced its official launch from stealth to bring automated risk management solutions to traders, investors, and fund managers in the blockchain ecosystem. The company also announced it raised $4.6 million through a seed round led by Lerer Hippeau. The funding round included Arrington Capital, Valhalla Ventures, ARCA, RSE/Vayner, Sonic Boom Ventures, Alex Weiss of Clear Sky Capital, and Artico Search. White Star Capital joined in a subsequent funding cycle.

TrojAI: Enterprise AI Security Solutions Company Closes $5.75 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Apr 5, 2024

TrojAI, a leading provider of enterprise AI security solutions, announced a $5.75 million funding round of additional seed capital and the appointment of Lee Weiner as the company's CEO. This funding round was led by Flying Fish, with participation from current investors Build Ventures and Techstars and new investors Alteryx Ventures and Flybridge Capital Partners.

Sprocket Security: Continuous Penetration Testing Company Raises $8 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 31, 2024

Sprocket Security, an offensive security platform with an industry-leading continuous pentesting solution, announced its $8 million Series A financing. Led by Blueprint Equity, with participation from Wisconsin-based Capital Midwest Fund, the funding will accelerate Sprocket's platform development, fuel customer success, and expand sales and marketing initiatives.