Crowdsourced Security Startup Bugcrowd Locks Up $102M

Hackers-for-hire platform Bugcrowd locked up $102 million in fresh funding led by General Catalyst.

The San Francisco-based platform allows companies of all sorts to hire freelance hackers and coders for “bug bounty” programs, helping those companies find problems in software code.

In the past 12 months, Bugcrowd has nearly reached the 1,000-client milestone, added more than 100 new people to its staff, and grown its overall business more than 40%.

“Over the past year, more than 200 new clients have joined the Bugcrowd Platform to leverage the collective ingenuity of the hacker community,” said CEO Dave Gerry. “This latest investment gives us the resources we need to continue to be the leading force in the crowdsourced security market.”

The company plans to use the new cash to accelerate growth across the globe — including in the U.S. — and leverage opportunities for strategic M&A.

The new round also included participation from existing investors Rally Ventures and Costanoa Ventures.

Founded in 2012, the company has raised more than $180 million, per Crunchbase.

Big rounds

Bugcrowd’s round is the latest big raise for a cyber company. Just last week, Austin, Texas-based NinjaOne, which provides endpoint management, security and monitoring, raised a $231.5 million Series C led by Iconiq Growth at a $1.9 billion valuation.

Venture funding to cybersecurity dropped to its lowest total since 2018 last year. Security companies raised $8.2 billion in 692 venture capital deals in 2023 — per Crunchbase numbers — compared to $16.3 billion in 941 deals in 2022.

With some large rounds this year, funding has picked up a little through the first month-plus, with $1.3 billion being raised, per Crunchbase data.