Investments and insights.
- Tenzai emerges from stealth with $75 million in seed funding led by Greylock Partners.
- Sweet Security raises $75 million, Series B round led by Evolution Equity Partners.
- Truffle Security raises $25 million, Series B round led by Intel Capital and a16z.
- Oleria secures $19 million in a new funding round; the company hasn't shared details.
- Seezo has raised $7 million, seed funding led by Accel.
- Rilevera secures $3 million, seed round led by DataTribe.
Tenzai, an Israeli startup building an agentic AI-powered penetration testing platform, has emerged from stealth with $75 million in seed funding led by Greylock Partners. Greylock said in a press release, "Tenzai is founded by cybersecurity veterans Pavel Gurvich, Ariel Zeitlin, Ofri Ziv, Itamar Tal, and Aner Mazur. The founders have leading industry track records, including tenures at elite military intelligence units. Pavel, Ariel, Ofri, and Itamar previously built and scaled Guardicore (acquired by Akamai), and Aner previously led product management at Snyk....Since founding, the Tenzai founders have attracted a very talented and experienced initial engineering team. The company is already engaged in design partnerships and early deployments with leading enterprises across financial services, healthcare, and technology."
Israeli runtime CNAPP and AI security company Sweet Security has raised $75 million in a Series B round led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Munich Re Ventures, Glilot Capital Partners, and Key1 Capital. The company says the funding "will accelerate global expansion and product innovation to meet fast-growing enterprise demand for real-time protection across the entire cloud, AI systems, and production environments."
San Francisco-based credential exposure detection firm Truffle Security has raised $25 million in a Series B round led by Intel Capital and a16z, with participation from Abstract, Lytical Ventures, and angel investors. The company stated, "The new investment will fuel continued growth of TruffleHog Enterprise, the company’s enterprise-grade secrets detection, verification, and remediation solution, and accelerate innovation in secrets and NHI protection. It also supports the launch of TruffleHog GCP Analyze, an add-on that gives organizations deep visibility into leaked Google Cloud NHIs (service accounts), helping teams assess risk faster and prioritize remediation."
Seattle-based identity security firm Oleria has raised $19 million in a new funding round, GeekWire reports. The company confirmed the fundraising, but hasn't shared details.
Bangalore-headquartered application security startup Seezo has raised $7 million in seed funding led by Accel, with participation from Transpose, Trenches, Ahead VC, MyAsia VC, and angel investors.
New Jersey-based threat detection engineering startup Rilevera has raised $3 million in seed funding led by DataTribe. According to SiliconAngle, the company "plans to use the seed funding to expand its product development team, grow its integration ecosystem, and support sales and marketing."
Mergers and acquisitions.
- Coalition has acquired MDR provider Wirespeed.
- Arctic Wolf has acquired ransomware prevention firm UpSight Security.
- MorganFranklin Cyber has acquired cyber and risk management provider Lynx Technology Partners
- Hexaware Technologies has acquired identity and access management provider CyberSolve
- Axiom GRC has acquired cyber compliance firm IS Partners.
- Pentera has acquired offensive security firm EVA Information Security.
- RKON Technologies has acquired cloud security firm ScaleSec.
San Francisco-based cyber insurance firm Coalition has acquired Missouri-headquartered MDR provider Wirespeed. Coalition stated, "The acquisition will combine Wirespeed’s industry-leading managed detection and response (MDR) with Coalition’s suite of cyber risk management tools and coverage to provide unmatched protection against fast-moving cyber threats."
Minneapolis-headquartered cybersecurity firm Arctic Wolf has acquired Oregon-based ransomware prevention firm UpSight Security. Arctic Wolf says it "plans to enhance Aurora Endpoint Security with upcoming AI-powered ransomware prevention and rollback capabilities," and the acquisition of UpSight "will accelerate the development and future delivery of these features, expanding its ability to protect organizations against ransomware, credential theft, and other advanced endpoint attacks."
North Carolina-headquartered MSSP and risk advisory firm MorganFranklin Cyber has acquired New York-headquartered cyber and risk management provider Lynx Technology Partners. MorganFranklin stated, "The acquisition represents a meaningful step forward in expanding MorganFranklin Cyber’s capabilities, strengthening its business development engine, and deepening its reach across key markets."
Mumbai-based IT consultancy Hexaware Technologies has acquired Virginia-headquartered identity and access management provider CyberSolve. Hexaware stated, "Together, the companies will help enterprises modernize identity foundations, automate controls with artificial intelligence (AI), and run secure operations across complex, hybrid technology estates."
London-based governance, risk, and compliance platform provider Axiom GRC has acquired Philadelphia-headquartered cyber compliance firm IS Partners. Axiom stated, "This acquisition marks a significant step forward in Axiom GRC's international expansion strategy, strengthening its cyber assurance and compliance offering and broadening its presence in North America. IS Partners complements Axiom's existing U.S. presence across enterprise risk, ISO, data privacy, and cyber security, and will further deepen the range of capabilities the group can offer to U.S. clients. The deal represents Axiom's first U.S.-headquartered acquisition, underscoring the company's ambition to build a leading international GRC platform."
Chicago-based MSSP RKON Technologies has acquired San Diego-based cloud security firm ScaleSec. RKON says the acquisition expands "its ability to support customers across compliant cloud environments, including Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud Platform." The company has added three executives from ScaleSec: "Marsha Wilson joins the RKON executive team as Chief Customer Officer, Emily Ryan as Chief Revenue Officer, and Aaron Wilson as Chief Technology Officer." Separately, RKON has hired David Wright as Chief Growth Officer, Wendy Kazlusky as Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Bill Gardner as Chief Operating Officer, and Gerard Onorato as Chief Information Security Officer.
Boston-based pentesting platform Pentera has acquired Israeli offensive security firm EVA Information Security. The company stated, "With the acquisition Pentera will offer adversarial testing services for customers to evaluate their AI ecosystem and infrastructure, including AI-integrated applications and interfaces."
Executive moves.
Aqua Security has appointed Mike Dube as CEO and Nir Makowski as Chief Product and Technology Officer. Aqua's co-founders Dror Davidoff and Amir Jerbi (former CEO and CTO, respectively) will continue to serve as strategic advisors to the company. Dube was formerly Aqua's President and Chief Revenue Officer, while Makowski was Senior Vice President of Engineering.
WatchGuard has named Joe Smolarski as CEO, while the company's interim CEO Vats Srivatsan will continue to serve as a member of the company's board of directors. Smolarski previously served as President at Kaseya.
1Password has named Michael Hughes as President and John Torrey as Chief Business Officer. Hughes previously served as Chief Revenue Officer at ChargePoint, while Torrey is a Venture Partner at Madrona.
Equinix has appointed Douglas Merrill as Chief Information Security Officer. Merrill has served as Equinix's interim CISO for the past six months.
ReversingLabs has named Matt Gyde as Chief Revenue Officer. Gyde previously served as CEO of vArmour and Foresite Cybersecurity.
Axonius has appointed Klaus Moser as Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Ernesto Tey as Vice President of Global Partners and Alliances.
atNorth has hired Bára Hlín Kristjánsdóttir as Director of PMO & Product and Jonas Lückner as Director of Commercial Management.
Nisos has announced the formation of a board of advisors chaired by the company's co-founder and Vice President Landon Winkelvoss. Other advisory board members include Dean Geribo, Gary Hayslip, Michael Johnson, Adi Karisik, Amy Lyons, Dr. Adrian Mayers, Chris McMahon, Megan Stifel, Larry Thompson, Shawn Turskey, and Evan Wolff.