💰 Security, Funded #111 - Miss the MSSP, Catch the Cash, and Cyber's Balanced Diet 🎮

Hey there,

Happy Monday, and I hope you had a great weekend. This week, we’ve got:

• ❌ MSSP can miss me

• 💰 $110.9M raised, 18 companies across 12 categories

• 🎮️ Balanced consumer spending fuels cyber opportunities

• 📚️ Software Supply Chain, Hard Hitting Lessons, and Synergy

In the shadow of unpredictable inflation and volatile markets, the cybersecurity landscape is unfolding like 4D chess. Consumer spending is keeping its balance, businesses are doubling down on cyber resiliency, and the upswing in the labor market means new cyber talent can once again join in.

In short, it's a scenario ripe with opportunity for those in the cyber game. 🎮️ 

Onward to this week's issue.

Last week’s poll:

Vibe Check - MSSPs
Are you currently using an MSP or MSSP as a part of your security program?

Only ~34% of respondents last week said they are currently working with or will be working with an MSSP. This will be one to revisit in the future, as I believe an increase in MSSP usage is a leading indicator of industry change and reflective of the overall hiring market.

_{If you want to add commentary to your poll answer, leave an answer when you cast your vote or email me at [email protected]. All responses will be kept anonymous} 🤫 

📅 YTD Funding

A rolling 12-week chart to compare funding and acquisitions each week between 2022 and 2023.

A smaller week in dollar value but a big week in terms of terms of transaction volume.

A similar pattern emerges with acquisitions to that of fundraising. A moderate to high volume of funding transactions seems to correlate with the same on M&A transactions.

💰 Funding Summary

• 18 companies raised $110.9M across 12 unique product categories

• 4 companies were acquired or had a merger event across 4 unique product categories

🧩 Funding By Product Category

• $43.5M for Fraud and Financial Crime Protection across 4 deals

• $19.0M for Cloud Forensics across 1 deal

• $16.5M for No-Code Security across 1 deal

• $16.2M for Data Protection across 2 deals

• $9.1M for Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) across 3 deals

• $3.0M for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Security across 1 deal

• $1.8M for Identity and Access Management (IAM) across 1 deal

• $1.7M for Secure Networking across 1 deal

• $14.8K for Bug Bounty across 1 deal

• An undisclosed amount for Professional Services across 1 deal

• An undisclosed amount for Personal Cybersecurity across 1 deal

• An undisclosed amount for Cybersecurity Education & Training across 1 deal

🏢 Funding By Company

• CertifID, a United States-based wire fraud protection and recovery service, raised a $20.0M Series B from Arthur Ventures. (more)

• Binalyze, an Estonia-based cloud and container forensics investigation platform, raised a $19.0M Series A from Molten Ventures. (more)

• Zenity, an Israel-based governance and security platform for low-code/no-code applications, raised a $16.5M Series A from Intel Capital. (more)

• Arqit Limited, a United Kingdom-based data encryption platform, raised a $16.2M post-IPO equity from Heritage Assets SCSP and Ropemaker Nominees. (more)

• Cleafy, an Italy-based identity verification platform, raised a $10.7M Venture Round from United Ventures. (more)

• Deduce, a United States-based fraud and account takeover protection platform, raised a $9.0M Series B from Freestyle Capital. (more)

• Tamnoon, a United States-based managed security services provider (MSSP) focused on cloud security, raised a $5.1M Seed from Merlin Ventures and Secret Chord Ventures. (more)

• Verisoul, a United States-based fake user detection and protection platform, raised a $3.8M Seed round. (more)

• Invictus Technology, a United States-based managed security services provider (MSSP), raised a $3.2M Seed round. (more)

• Patronus AI, a United States-based platform focused on automated adversarial testing and risk assessment of Large Language Models (LLMs), raised a $3.0M Seed from Lightspeed Venture Partners. (more)

• 0xPass, a United States-based authentication and authorization platform for Web3 wallets, raised a $1.8M Pre-Seed from  Balaji Srinivasan. (more)

• Goldilock, a United Kingdom-based secure networking platform, raised a $1.7M Seed from Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of Greater NY and New York Angels. (more)

• Harris Technology Services, a United States-based managed security services provider (MSSP), raised a $750.0K Seed round. (more)

• Capture The Bug, a New Zealand-based bug bounty platform, raised a $14.8K Grant from Callaghan Innovation. (more)

• Haiku, Inc., a United States-based cybersecurity training platform, raised an undisclosed Seed from Kelly Ventures. (more)

• Oppos, a Canada-based professional services firm focused on cybersecurity governance and compliance, raised an undisclosed Seed from Inclusive Ventures Lab. (more)

• Tall Poppy, a United States-based personal cybersecurity platform focused on stopping online harassment and personal security threats, raised an undisclosed Seed from Inclusive Ventures Lab. (more)

• Veza, a United States-based data protection platform focused on identity and authorization, raised an undisclosed Venture Round from The Syndicate Group. (more)

🌎 Funding By Country

• $46.7M for the United States across 11 deals

• $19.0M for Estonia across 1 deal

• $17.9M for the United Kingdom across 2 deals

• $16.5M for Israel across 1 deal

• $10.7M for Italy across 1 deal

• $14.8K for New Zealand across 1 deal

• An undisclosed amount for Canada across 1 deal

🤝 Mergers & Acquisitions

• AnyTech365, a Spain-based managed security services provider (MSSP), was acquired by Zalatoris Acquisition Corp via SPAC for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• Fraudwatch International, an Australia-based managed cybercrime takedown platform, was acquired by Netcraft for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• Ingecom, a Spain-based cybersecurity focused value-added reseller (VAR), was acquired by Exclusive Networks for an undisclosed amount. (more)

• Protect4S, a Netherlands-based SAP security platform, was acquired by SecurityBridge for an undisclosed amount. (more)

📚 Great Reads

• Security and Operations Teams Should be Partners, Not Adversaries. - Nate Cash argues that security engineers should be more understanding of the constraints that operations engineers face and that they should approach conversations with operations engineers with curiosity rather than judgment.

• *Semgrep on Tour - Join us for a hands-on masterclass led by the creators and maintainers of Semgrep, focused on the best practices organizations can use to scale their SAST & SCA efforts. You’ll leave this workshop with knowledge and skills you can immediately put into practice.

• 25 Hard-Hitting Lessons from 17 Years in Cybersecurity - Dive into the no-filter truths from a 17-year cybersecurity career. These straight-shooting insights will help you navigate the intricacies and paradoxes of the cybersecurity industry.

• An Overview of Software Supply Chain Security - Clint Gibler & Francis Odum wrote an in-depth breakdown of what constitutes the software supply chain and how to secure each stage.

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🧪 Labs

I’m into tech, but not that kind of tech