Virsec Lands $100M As Cyberattacks Ramp Up

San Jose, California-based Virsec closed a $100 million Series C as companies continue to look for ways to secure their software amidst an increasing amount of cyber hacks.

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The new round was led by BlueIO, and also included participation from Allen & Company, Arena Holdings, Intuitive Venture Partners, JC2 Ventures, Artiman Ventures, Quantum Valley Investments and Marker Hill Capital. Founded in 2015, the company has now raised a total of  $137 million.

The company’s platform aims to stop attacks on software in real-time — eliminating the time a threat can corrupt a workload while also reducing the cost of security operations. CEO Dave Furneaux said huge attacks like the SolarWinds incident has shown there is a need for real-time software security that does not rely on just pattern recognition or artificial intelligence.

“There’s been enough breaches happening that people clearly realize we need a new approach to protecting software,” Furneaux said.

Different approach

While some companies such as Palo Alto Networks and Trend Micro use AI to detect and respond to attacks, Virsec integrates into a company’s software and defends it against real-time attacks.

Since the company does not rely on AI and pattern recognition, it can defend against new “zero-day” attacks that have not been seen before.

“For AI to work there must be a pattern, but for a pattern to develop you have to have seen it before” said Yatin Mundkur, a partner at Artiman Ventures. “Virsec provides protection. Other companies are providing analytics, visibility and other things.”

While Virsec does not offer financial details, Furneaux said the 160-person company has between 50 and 100 customers, and will focus its go-to-market efforts on securing more Fortune 500 contracts, as well as government contacts for both the U.S. and its allies.

Virsec’s platform came to market in late 2019, but Furneaux said he felt the timing was right to ramp up its global team and increase the market’s awareness of the company.

“I think our market is just developing,” he said. “I don’t think our market has revealed itself yet.”

Mundkur added the market is huge for protecting software, as every company is a software company now.

“They say software is eating the world,” he said. “Well, hackers are eating the software.”

Illustration: Dom Guzman