💰 Security, Funded #76 - A Slow Start, Secure Defaults, and The (In)Secure Year That Was for Blockchain

Hey there,

I hope you had a great weekend!

In this week's issue:

• A Slow Start

• Secure Defaults

• The (In)Secure Year That Was for Blockchain

This will be a short opener this week as it is a slow and predictable start to the new year. Funding is much less than last week, but that's no surprise. Deal flow is just waking up, and companies are taking a (financial) pulse of how they feel.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report dropped last week, more tech layoffs are happening, and hiring freezes all around has everyone in the economy collectively holding their breath.

Onward to this week's issue.

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📊 Industry News

• RSAC Innovation Sandbox and Launch Pad 2023 Contests Now Accepting Submissions (more)

• CISA adds SentinelOne to the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (more)

• Amazon S3 Encrypts New Objects By Default (more)

💰 Funding Summary

• 7 companies raised $80.9M across 7 unique product categories

• 7 companies were acquired or had a merger event across 6 unique product categories

🧩 Funding by Product Category

• $55.0M for Cybersecurity Education & Training

• $16.4M for Secure Collaboration and Messaging

• $9.0M for Third-Party Risk Management

• $250.0K for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Security

• $246.6K for Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP)

• An undisclosed amount for Internet of Things (IoT) Security

• An undisclosed amount for Application Security Testing (AST)

🏢 Funding By Company

• Hack The Box, a United Kingdom-based cybersecurity education and training platform, raised a $55.0M Series B from The Carlyle Group. (more)

• SpiderOak, a United States-based secure messaging and collaboration platform, raised a $16.4M Series C from Madison Dearborn Partners. (more)

• Censinet, a United States-based healthcare-focused third-party risk assessment platform, raised a $9.0M Venture Round from Ballad Ventures, MemorialCare Innovation Fund, andRex Health Ventures. (more)

• Arcana Network, an India-based privacy and user authentication stack for decentralized ledger technology (DLT) applications, raised a $250.0K Seed from Beacon.

• Cyberangels, an Italy-based managed security services provider (MSSP), raised a $247.0K Seed from Startup Wise Guys.

• CyDeploy, a United States-based virtual testing platform for measuring the impact of security scanning, patches, and changes, raised an undisclosed Non-Equity Assistance from Techstars Equitech Accelerator.

• Tianfang Security, a China-based Internet of Things (IoT) security company, raised an undisclosed Seed from Ying Capital.

🌎 Funding By Country

• $55.0M for United Kingdom 🇬🇧

• $25.4M for United States 🇺🇸

• $250.0K for India 🇮🇳

• $246.6K for Italy 🇮🇹

• An undisclosed amount for China 🇨🇳

🤝 Mergers & Acquisitions

• CMIT Solutions, a United States-based managed services provider (MSP), was acquired by HKW for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• Enterprise Blueprints, a United Kingdom-based professional services firm focused on cybersecurity and digital transformation, was acquired by Bain & Company for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• nVisium, a United States-based application security testing platform, was acquired by NetSPI for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• RAN Security, an Argentina-based managed security services provider (MSSP), was acquired by Cerberus Sentinel for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• SecZetta, a United States-based provider of third-party identity risk services, was acquired by SailPoint for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• The TNS Group, a United States-based managed security services provider (MSSP), was acquired by Omega Systems for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• Topo.ai, a United States-based security operations workflow, automation, and communications platform, was acquired by Crisis24 for an undisclosed amount. (more)

Don't forget, if you've been following along for a while, I've spun off the jobs section that was previously in this newsletter and made it a separate newsletter that you can find here:

📚 Great Reads

• Investing in cybersecurity: a deep look at the challenges, opportunities, and tools for cyber-focused VCs - An amazing guest post from Ross Haleliuk from Venture in Security.

• 2022 Blockchain Security and AML Analysis Annual Report - This report closely examines the major events and common attack techniques in the blockchain industry in 2022. (h/t @securitypills)

• Who should make cyber risk management decisions? - This post talks about the logistics and mechanics of who should make cyber risk decisions and how to record and communicate them.

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