Reach Security Secures $20 mm in Series A Funding
Reach Security a startup focusing on maximizing cybersecurity through AI-driven analysis and optimization of existing security tools, announced a $20 million Series A funding round. The investment, led by Ballistic Ventures and joined by Artisanal Ventures. Industry leaders including Mark McLaughlin, former CEO and President of Palo Alto Networks, and Denise Persson, CMO of Snowflake also participated. Reach Security aims at leveraging AI to enhance the utilization of existing security products, rather than adding an entirely new approach or framework into the mix.
Sweet Security Raises $33 Million Series A to Advance Cloud Runtime Security
Israeli startup Sweet Security has announced a $33 mm Series A funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners, with contributions from Munich Re Ventures and Glilot Capital Partners. The funding will support the expansion of Sweet’s operations in the U.S. and the enhancement of its unified runtime security platform for the cloud. Utilizing eBPF-based technology, Sweet’s platform offers insights into application, network, and non-human identities, providing actionable intelligence for managing cloud risks more effectively.
Other eBPF-based platforms include Isovalent, acquired by Cisco in December 2023 and groundcover, which announced a combined Seed and Series Afunding of $24.5 mm in September 2022.
Claroty Secures $100 Million for Strategic Growth in Cyber-Physical Systems Protection
Claroty, a leader in the cyber-physical systems (CPS) protection space, has announced securing $100 mm in strategic growth financing. The funding was led by Dan Williams of Delta-v Capital and includes credit and equity investments from AB Private Credit Investors, Standard Investments, Toshiba Digital Solutions, SE Ventures, Rockwell Automation, and SVB. The funding will be used to fuel the expansion of Claroty’s platform approach to CPS across various sectors and regions. With this new financing, Claroty aims to deepen its research and development efforts and strengthen strategic partnerships.
The company crossed the $100 mm ARR threshold in 2023 and increased its customer count 3x relative to 2020. It claims to work with more than 20% of the Fortune 100. The ten year old firm has raised a total of $635 mm to date.
CrowdStrike Announces Acquisition of DSPM Provider Flow Security
CrowdStrike announced that they are acquiring Flow Security (acquired by CrowdStrike), a company that specializes in data security posture management (DSPM). This acquisition will allow CrowdStrike to offer a more comprehensive cloud security platform that protects data at rest and in motion. Flow Security was founded in 2021 and had raised $13 mm in funding. Israeli news sources report CrowdStrike paid $200 mm for the acquisition.
Traditionally, data security tools have struggled to keep up with the ever-growing amount of data that businesses store in the cloud. This has created gaps in security that adversaries are increasingly exploiting. Flow Security’s technology will help CrowdStrike address this challenge and provide their customers with the best possible protection for their data.
The acquisition of Flow Security is part of CrowdStrike’s larger strategy to become the leading provider of cloud-native security solutions. The company has recently made a number of other acquisitions that have helped them to expand their product portfolio, including application security posture management (ASPM) provider Bionic, which provides cloud-native application protection, and SecureCircle®, which gives organizations visibility into their data as it moves across endpoints.
Axonius Extends Series E with $200 mm From Lightspeed and Accel
Axonius, a company specializing in cyber asset management, has secured an additional $200 million in funding. This brings their total Series E funding to $400 million and maintains their valuation at $2.6 billion. This funding round is structured as an extension of the company’s previous Series E round which was led by Accel in 2022. Lightspeedis co-leading this extension and the valuation stays flat at $2.6 bn. Axonius had raised $100 mm in Series D funding in 2021 at a $1.2 bn valuation. It has raised a total of $865 mm since founding in 2017.
With the rise of cloud services, various devices, and constantly evolving technologies, Enterprises face a vast and ever-changing “attack surface” that can be exploited by malicious actors. Axonius tackles this challenge by providing near real-time snapshots of a network’s digital landscape. While acknowledging limitations from some data sources, they strive for the most up-to-date picture possible. Axonius goes beyond just inventory however; it detects changes and suggests actions to address potential vulnerabilities, focusing specifically on cybersecurity rather than broader data management goals.
Notable customers of Axonius include Schneider Electric, News Corp, and Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Machine Learning Ops Platform Baseten Raises $40 mm Series B
Baseten, a company simplifying machine learning model deployment, has secured a $40 million in funding in a Series B round co-led by IVP and Spark Capital, with participation from existing investors Greylock, South Park Commons, Lachy Groom, and Base Case. This investment will fuel their continued development of a platform that streamlines the complexities of managing large models in production.
Baseten, founded in 2019, seeks to address the challenges faced by businesses who struggle with the complexities of managing large models, including acquiring compute resources, achieving fast run times, and cost optimization. The company offers a performant, scalable, and reliable platform that abstracts away the complexities of production deployment. The company boasts successful deployments with companies like Descript, Picnic Health, and Patreon.
Looking ahead, Baseten plans to expand their offerings with multi-cloud support, integrations with best-in-class runtimes, new cloud partnerships, and an orchestration layer. They are also working on functionalities beyond inference, such as fine-tuning, evaluations, and training.
Baseten competes with the likes of Together AI which I profiled in my overview of Compute for Generative AI in December 2023.
Enterprise Work Assistant Platform Glean Secures $200 mm
Glean, an AI-powered work assistant platform, has secured $200 mm in funding at a $2.2 bn valuation. This Series D round was led by Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed, with participation from a mix of new and existing investors including Sequoia Capital, Coatue, ICONIQ Growth, and strategic investors Capital One Ventures and Citi.
Glean’s technology leverages advanced search and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to provide users with relevant and up-to-date information. This allows Glean to generate personalized answers that are grounded in each organization’s specific data and knowledge. The company envisions itself as a comprehensive enterprise AI platform offering both a ready-to-use work assistant and the tools for businesses to build custom generative AI experiences.
While many organizations recognize the potential of generative AI for boosting productivity, concerns about security risks and shadow IT remain prevalent. Glean addresses these concerns by offering a secure and scalable solution that connects large language models (LLMs) with enterprise data.
In just the past year, Glean has emerged as a leader in the enterprise generative AI space with the launch of their conversational AI assistant, Glean Chat. Their platform boasts features like trusted answers based on the company’s knowledge graph, responsible scaling, and turnkey implementation through pre-built connectors. These features aim to empower CIOs to quickly leverage AI without compromising security or budgets.
The company has achieved significant milestones since their $100 mm Series C funding round in 2022. Glean’s latest funding round will fuel their development of a comprehensive and intuitive AI platform designed to empower users and enhance workflows.
Broadcom Continues Streamlining Operations Following Close of VMware Acquisition
In a strategic move to streamline its portfolio following the acquisition of VMware, Broadcom is selling its end-user computing (EUC) unit to KKR for $4 billion. The transaction, which sees the EUC unit operating as a standalone entity under its current management, reflects Broadcom’s efforts to focus on core competencies post-VMware acquisition. KKR‘s purchase of the EUC unit from Broadcom symbolizes the investment firm’s continued interest and belief in the potential of the technology services sector, especially amidst the evolving IT spending patterns influenced by the pandemic.
Additionally, Broadcom is merging its Symantec and Carbon Black acquisitions into a new Enterprise Security Group. This group will focus on cybersecurity solutions for large enterprises.
Symantec brings data and network protection expertise, while Carbon Black specializes in endpoint detection and response (EDR) and application control. With the combination Broadcom plans to give customers more comprehensive visibility and control over their security deployments.
Other Stuff
Humanoid robotics company Figure announced a $675 mm Series B round at a $2.6 bn valuation. Microsoft, OpenAI Startup Fund, NVIDIA, Bezos Expeditions, Parkway Venture Capital, Intel Capital and others participated in the funding
WSJ wonders why headcount at large tech firms has remained steady despite big layoffs
Shasta Ventures is pursuing a strip sale in an effort to provide liquidity to investors
Semiconductor connectivity platform Astera Labs has filed to go public, seeking to ride the Gen AI wave. Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are leading the offering. Astera Labs is backed by Sutter Hill Ventures and Intel Capital amongst others
My day job is advising growing companies on fundraising and M&A. If you are an investor or entrepreneur I’d love to connect.