💰 Security, Funded #138 - Total Eclipse of the IPO Spark 🌝

Hey there,

I hope you had a great weekend!

There will be a total solar eclipse visible across North America today, but not even an eclipse can cast a shadow on the uncorked cyber IPO market. In what was not an April Fool’s joke, Rubrik filed for IPO last week, marking the potential first cyber IPO of 2024.

“Our business is indexed to business data growth. Our customers’ need for our solutions grows in lockstep with their business data growth and their need for additional data security capabilities.”
_{-- Rubrik S1 filing}

The growth of data and the growth of security needs have long been tightly correlated in business. In the last 18 months since AI has become accessible to everyday consumers and businesses alike, the pedal has been put to the proverbial metal.

Right now with the explosion of Generative AI and LLM applications, all businesses are experiencing an exponential growth of their business data. What became a truism in the early 2010s that "every business is a tech business" has a new framing:

Every business is now an AI business.

It's good news for the cyber industry, as you cannot have "AI" without "AI Security."

Onward to this week's issue.

_{Submit a deal here: [email protected]}

😎 Vibe Check

Last issue’s vibe check:
What is your security program's top priority going into Q2? 
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 👩🏽‍💻 AppSec (16)
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤖 AI Security (7)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🌩️ Cloud Security (11)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 3️⃣ Third-Party Risk (8)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👩🏻‍🔧 Patch All The Things (3)
45 Votes

Interesting! Despite what the media and click-bait articles might tell you, most practitioners do not have AI Security as their current top priority. Obviously, “AI Security” is a broad option, but it is still surprising to see, given all the hype. Application Security and Cloud Security dominate still, and AI and the security thereof will be “baked in” to those other large buckets. Not to mention third-party risk continuing to move up on the risk radar.

Some of the top comments from last week were:

“There's no escaping the increase in cloud and SaaS adoption, coupled with the complex web of interconnected APIs.”

“You can never patch everything, therefore, it would be more cost efficient to keep an eye on third party apps and services. Third parties will influence appsec, AI security, and cloud security.”

💰 Market Summary

📸 YoY Snapshot

🤙 Earnings Reports

🧩 Funding By Product Category

• $19.4M for Identity and Access Management (IAM) across 2 deals

• $10.0M for Security and Compliance Automation across 1 deal

• $10.0M for Anti-Phishing across 1 deal

• $8.0M for Confidential Computing across 1 deal

• $6.3M for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Security across 2 deals

• $4.0M for Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) across 1 deal

• $1.3M for Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) across 1 deal

• An undisclosed amount for Fraud and Financial Crime Protection across 1 deal

🏢 Funding By Company

• Permiso Security, a United States-based identity and access runtime visibility platform for the cloud, raised a $18.5M Series A from Altimeter Capital and Point72 Ventures. (more)

• Allure Security Technology, a United States-based anti-phishing solution, raised a $10.0M Series A from Curql. (more)

• Scrut Automation, a United States-based security and compliance automation platform, raised a $10.0M Private Equity Round from Lightspeed Venture Partners, MassMutual Ventures, and Endiya Partners. (more)

• HUB Security, an Israel-based confidential computing platform, raised a $8.0M post-IPO debt round. (more)

• TrojAI, a United States-based platform for protecting artificial intelligence (AI) applications, raised a $5.8M Seed from Flying Fish Partners. (more)

• Ostra Cybersecurity, a United States-based managed security services provider (MSSP), raised a $4.0M Series A from Rally Ventures. (more)

• Arch0, a United States-based identity threat detection and response (ITDR) platform, raised a $1.3M Pre-Seed from Leo Capital. (more)

• Plurilock, a Canada-based identity and access management (IAM) platform using biometrics and machine learning, raised a $900.0K post-IPO debt round. (more)

• PromptArmor, a United States-based threat detection platform for GenAI and LLM applications, raised a $500.0K Pre-Seed from Y Combinator.

• CertifID, a United States-based wire fraud protection and recovery service, raised an undisclosed Private Equity Round from CIBC Innovation Banking. (more)

🌎 Funding By Country

• $50.0M for the United States across 8 deals

• $8.0M for Israel across 1 deal

• $900.0K for Canada across 1 deal

🤝 Mergers & Acquisitions

• CIP Cyber, a United States-based cybersecurity training and education platform focused on OT/ICS security, was acquired by OPSWAT for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• Longbow, a United States-based threat and risk prioritization platform, was acquired by Veracode for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• Protega, a Brazil-based managed security services provider (MSSP), was acquired by Stefanini for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• Q1 Group, an Australia-based professional services firm focused on cloud security and incident response, was acquired by Seisma Group for an undisclosed amount. (more)

📚 Great Reads

• Efficient Security Principle (ESP) - Daniel Miessler shares a way of explaining why security's baseline is so low in places and why it's so hard to raise.

• Rubrik IPO: S1 Breakdown - CJ Gustafson does the best breakdown of the Rubrick S1 filing for going public.

• *The Anonymization Paradox: When Data Privacy Fails - a look at high-profile failures of data anonymization and the evolving strategies on advancements in data privacy and security practices.

• Lucky vs. Repeatable - In business and investing, you want to learn the big lessons about why things behave the way they do without assuming the past is a direct guide to the future because it’s not.

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🧪 Labs

Ba-da-ba-da-ba-be bop bop oh no! 😵 

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