Risk-Based Vulnerability Orchestration Company ZeroNorth Raises $10 Million

By Dan Anderson • Mar 17, 2020
  • ZeroNorth, the first provider of risk-based vulnerability orchestration across applications and infrastructure, announced it raised $10 million in Series A+ funding

ZeroNorth — the first provider of risk-based vulnerability orchestration across applications and infrastructure — announced it raised $10 million in Series A+ funding led by Crosslink Capital with participation from other existing investors ClearSky, Rally Ventures, and Petrillo Capital. In connection with this funding round, Crosslink Capital partner Matt Bigge is joining the ZeroNorth board of directors.

What does ZeroNorth do? ZeroNorth enables companies to orchestrate vulnerability management and remediation programs across all phases of the software development lifecycle. And by orchestrating the many vulnerability scanning tools organizations use, ZeroNorth is able to bridge the gap between application security, development, and security operations. This enables companies to deliver on the promise of secure DevOps while reducing the risks associated with software and infrastructure vulnerabilities.

Last year, ZeroNorth increased annual recurring revenue by more than 300% while doubling its customer base. And the company also strengthened its leadership team with proven leaders from across the cybersecurity industry.

John Worrall (former CMO at CyberArk and VP and GM of RSA’s Security Intelligence & Event Management business unit) joined as CEO. Karen Higgins (former CFO at Resilient Systems through its acquisition by IBM and then director of IBM security operations) joined as CFO. John Steven (founder of Codiscope, co-CTO of Cigital and then senior director of security technology and applied research at Synopsys after it acquired both firms) joined as CTO. And Dave Howell (former marketing VP at Raytheon and Forcepoint) joined as VP of marketing. This funding round will accelerate ZeroNorth’s growth by enabling the company to further expand key functions quickly, including engineering, customer support, and sales.

The ZeroNorth platform enables companies to embrace critical digital transformation initiatives and increasing development speeds without leaving security behind. And the platform integrates with and orchestrates the many different security scanning tools organizations use and correlates the high-volume of output that otherwise becomes too onerous for teams to manage manually.

In consolidating issues, prioritizing risk based on business context, and integrating back into developer workflows through tools they already use, ZeroNorth speeds remediation through continuous development.

The centralized approach reduces the resources required to implement a comprehensive software security program while giving organizations a more complete and consistent view of risk. Plus this single view also dramatically eases reporting for corporate and board-level audit, regulatory compliance, and customer assurance.

Businesses spent $1.5 billion on tools to enable DevSecOps in 2018 alone, according to Markets and Markets. And the first estimated spending will reach $5.9 billion by 2023.

Key Quotes:

“Over the past several years, organizations have come to recognize the critical nature of securing software across the entire development lifecycle. That said, security has proven unable to keep up with the demands of the rapid, continuous DevOps model. ZeroNorth has demonstrated – through its platform today and vision for tomorrow – the ability to bridge that gap for customers. We’re thrilled to partner with the company’s accomplished leadership team and Board to drive the next level of growth.”

-Crosslink Capital partner Matt Bigge

“Software security has never been more important, but it’s never been this challenging either. Development and security teams are pushed apart by the need for speed, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Security teams can rise to the challenge and speed of DevOps, and orchestration across the development lifecycle is the answer. The tremendous traction our team achieved over the past year is proof, and this additional funding puts us in a position to make the future even more impressive.”

-John Worrall, CEO at ZeroNorth