Application Security Startup Apiiro Locks Down $100M

Cybersecurity funding may be sliding compared to last year, but some investors are still willing to open their pocketbooks.

New York-based application security provider Apiiro closed a $100 million Series B Thursday led by General Catalyst with participation by Greylock and Kleiner Perkins.

The new round ends an interesting month for the company. In September, Globes reported that Palo Alto Networks was interested in buying the company for around $550 million. Then two weeks ago, the Jewish Business News reported the company would look for funding after talks broke down.

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Apiiro now will look to double down on its approach to cloud-native application security. The startup provides developers and security engineers complete visibility into code bases. It also assesses risks from design all the way to release in the cloud. That visibility allows the team to proactively fix any issues before release and before attackers can find the vulnerability.

Application security is still a highly watched market, as companies release more applications in the cloud and developers are more overworked with new releases and patching.

“Early innovation enabled us to grow faster and more efficiently than the competition, and we are building the company for hyper growth,” said Idan Plotnik, co-founder and CEO in a release. “The combination of our team, business momentum, and support from top-tier investors positions Apiiro to continue to lead a growing industry.”

Funding down

Last year was a monster for funding to cybersecurity startups, with more than $21 billion raised, according to Crunchbase data. However, this year has seen a massive pullback. Through the year’s first three quarters, startups had seen only $13 billion of funding — well off 2021’s pace.

However, it is important to remember the numbers are still ahead of 2020. That year saw a total of $8.9 billion go to VC-backed cybersecurity startups.

One reason for the decline from last year is the drop in nine-figure rounds like the one Apiiro just announced.

Through three quarters last year, there were 49 rounds of $100 million-plus — compared to 39 in the same period this year, according to Crunchbase data.