Netacea, the bot detection and mitigation specialist, today announces that it has received $12m (£9m) in Series A funding, its largest investment to date.
Investors in this Series A round consist of experienced professionals behind some of the biggest names in the cybersecurity sector. As well as long-term backer Mercia Asset Management, investors include Rupert Cook, Chairman, Netacea; Gerhard Watzinger, Chairman, Crowdstrike; Marcin Kleczynski, CEO, Malwarebytes; Alex Eckelberry; NED, Malwarebytes and Former Non-Executive Director, KnowBe4; and John Viega former CEO, Capsule8.
Netacea is a fast-growing cybersecurity business that detects and mitigates against bot attacks that target mobile, website and API applications. It takes a smart approach to bot management, using threat intelligence and machine learning to identify and mitigate threats in near real-time. Netacea’s unique agentless approach does not require code to be inserted on customers’ web pages, allowing it to stay hidden from attackers while also protecting mobile apps and APIs.
The funding will enable Netacea to expand its presence in the U.K. and the U.S., where the business sees significant opportunity for growth. Netacea’s presence in the U.S. has grown quickly in the last few months, landing several big name customers including Shutterstock, and this growth is supported by a channel program and U.S. leadership team. Half of Netacea’s sales team is now based in the U.S. and plans are in place for this proportion to grow. As well as expanding its U.S. reach, Netacea will grow its technical team, specifically in development, data science, data analysis and threat research.
In the last year alone, $261m has been invested in best-of-breed bot management technology. Analysts have predicted that the bot management market is set to grow rapidly. In Forrester Analytics: Application Security Solutions Forecast, 2020 To 2025 (Global), Forrester predicts that the application security solutions market will grow from $4.7bn in 2019 to $12.9bn by 2025, and that bot management will overtake traditional Web Application Firewall (WAF) solutions.
Alex Eckelberry, NED, Malwarebytes, said: “A simplistic rules-based approach to bot management won’t cut it anymore. Security suites need to be supported by dedicated bot management solutions that can respond to new threats and take advantage of new threat intelligence. Netacea’s agentless approach is the right one.”
Jeremy Gidlow, CEO and Co-founder, Netacea, said: “We’re delighted to close this new round of funding—the support and business expertise from our investors has been invaluable in taking Netacea from a new product to an established and confident business. We have already won some big U.S. customers, such as Shutterstock, and look forward to continuing our push into the U.S. market.”
