May, 2021

ArmorCode Emerges From Stealth With $3 Million in Seed Funding to Redefine Application Security

Intelligent Application Security Platform Offers Consolidated Application Security Posture Management, DevSecOps Orchestration, and Continuous Compliance

Palo Alto, Calif. — May 13, 2021 — ArmorCode, the Silicon Valley startup delivering application security at the speed of DevOps, today announced it has secured $3 million in seed financing led bySierra Ventures with participation fromTau Ventures andZ5 Capital and individual investors including industry leaders Andreas Kuehlmann (CEO, Tortuga Logic; former security executive at Synopsys) and Prithvi Rai (former Sr. Director of Security at Uber, Facebook, and Yahoo!). Enterprises use ArmorCode to consolidate application security tooling, streamline application security processes, increase business agility, and improve developer productivity.

“Application development has changed radically: from waterfall to agile development and from monolithic application architecture to microservices delivered at the edge. Once-a-year compliance is no longer sufficient as releases are done on a weekly or even daily cadence. However, application security and compliance tools haven’t kept up,” said Teza Mukkavilli, Chief Security Officer at ChargePoint, an ArmorCode customer. “My team was able to onboard the ArmorCode platform in less than 15 minutes and saw tremendous time to value.”

ArmorCode was founded in July 2020 by CEO Nikhil Gupta — the former VMware and Cisco executive most known for founding Avid Secure, an AI-powered enterprise cloud security posture management company acquired by Sophos — and seasoned CTO Anant Misra to help companies take charge of increasingly-complicated application security environments. According to Gartner, application security is one of the top three fastest-growing segments within cybersecurity.

“We have received consistent feedback from the CISO group of our CXO Advisory Board that they are overwhelmed by the volume and complexity of application security alerts,” said Mark Fernandes, Managing Partner, Sierra Ventures, who has invested in many successful security companies like Sourcefire and RedLock. “ArmorCode is the most comprehensive solution in the space and the founding team has very relevant startup experience to tackle this significant problem. The rapid early bottoms-up customer adoption is validating our thesis.”

The transition to agile development, the rise of microservices, and an increased reliance on cloud services for business operations due to the pandemic have contributed to an explosion in software development and a dramatic reduction in software delivery time. As the speed and complexity of application development skyrockets, application security professionals increasingly find themselves unable to keep up — and many are forced to piece together security tools as stopgaps. Gartner recentlyfound that “78% of CISOs have 16 or more tools in their cybersecurity vendor portfolio and 12% have 46 or more. Too many security vendors result in complex security operations and increased security headcount. Most organizations recognize vendor consolidation as an avenue for reduced costs and better security, with 80% of organizations interested in vendor consolidation strategy.”

In addition, cybercrime is increasing partly due to the pandemic: a global survey of 1,000 CXOs revealed that 90% experienced an increase in cyberattacks due to the pandemic and 93% said they were forced to delay key security projects in order to manage the transition to remote work. Cybersecurity Ventures predicts cybercrime damages will total $6 trillion globally in 2021 — or $190,000 every second — and will grow by 15 percent per year over the next five years, reaching $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.

ArmorCode is a next-generation application security platform that consolidates three key AppSec needs into a single intelligent platform that minimizes tooling and alerts while maximizing agility, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. The ArmorCode platform includes:

Application Security Posture Management

Simplifies AppSec operations by providing a centralized view of all security findings across application and infrastructure security and enables a streamlined CI/CD pipeline
Reduces the risk of security incidents by as much as 50% by normalizing, prioritizing, and correlating findings across various AppSec and infrastructure security tools

DevSecOps Orchestration

Offers a seamless DevSecOps workflow that fosters tighter collaboration between developers and AppSec engineers with 60+ integrations across leading AppSec, CI/CD, collaboration, and infrastructure security tools

Continuous Compliance

Out-of-the-box industry-standard compliances including SOC2, GDPR, FedRAMP, and OWASP Top 10, among others
Continuous evaluation of application security controls and relevant security standards

“While software development releases have shrunk from years to hours, enterprise application security processes are still slow, antiquated, and chaotic. ArmorCode has designed a massively scalable agentless platform from the ground up to help modernize application security,” said Nikhil Gupta, Co-founder and CEO of ArmorCode. “We already have a strong remote-first team of more than 25 members and this initial funding will enable us to realize our dream of democratizing application security.”

About ArmorCode

ArmorCode is delivering application security at the speed of DevOps. Founded in 2020 in Palo Alto, California, the company offers security professionals a centralized platform for Application Security Posture Management; DevSecOps Orchestration; and Continuous compliance. With ArmorCode, enterprises can radically simplify and accelerate application security while cutting costs by as much as 50%. ArmorCode is used by global brands and backed by leading VC firms and security industry experts. To learn more, please visitarmorcode.com.

Media Contact:
Aaron Endre
aaron@aaronendre.com

Newswire heading: Unveils Next Generation Application Security Platform

AccuKnox Secures $4.6M in Seed Funding to Meet Growing Demand for Zero-Trust Kubernetes Security Solutions

National Grid Partners leads seed investment in Zero Trust Cloud Security innovator AccuKnox, with strategic investment from SRI, Z5Capital and Outliers VC.

MENLO PARK, April 27, 2021 – AccuKnox, formed in partnership with SRI (Stanford Research Institute), today announced that it has closed an over-subscribed $4.6 million seed financing led by National Grid Partners, with strategic participation from SRI, Z5Capital and Outliers VC. The funding will be used to expand the engineering team and enable AccuKnox to further capitalize on its technology innovations in security and Zero Trust in dynamic, cloud-native environments. The company plans to deliver on open source and commercial offerings before the end of this year.

In addition, AccuKnox announced that Phil Porras, Program Director and Internet Security Group Leader, Computer Science Laboratory, SRI, has joined the company, assuming the role of Chief Scientist. The founding team includes Asif Ali, Nat Natraj, Rahul Jadhav and Phil Porras.

AccuKnox is a Zero Trust run-time Kubernetes security platform that leverages an identity-driven approach. Kubernetes, one of the fastest growing open source projects, is the foundation of cloud-native applications. AccuKnox is the founding team behind KubeArmor, an open source run-time security enforcement system that leverages Linux Security Module (LSM). The company’s technology is anchored on seminal patented innovations in container security, un-supervised learning and data provenance developed at Stanford Research Institute.

AccuKnox leverages best in class foundational open source platforms like eBPF, SPIFFE, OPA, and Kyverno and provides a comprehensive security, compliance and governance platform for Public Cloud and Private clouds.

“The AccuKnox team under Nat Natraj’s leadership is made up of proven, cloud-native DevSecOps professionals,” said Lisa Lambert, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at National Grid and Founder and President of National Grid Partners. “We’re confident that the combination of SRI innovations and AccuKnox’s proven team will deliver a category leading, Zero Trust security platform to address emerging threats.”

National Grid Partners Director Raghu Madabushi will join the AccuKnox board.

Gartner projects that by 2022, more than 75% of global organizations will be running containerized applications in production. Due to this unprecedented growth in Private and Public Cloud container deployments, industry analysts forecast the container security market to reach $2.25 billion by 2023.

“We are thrilled to team with NationalGrid and SRI to launch AccuKnox. I am equally excited that top caliber Cloud Native tech leaders like Asif Ali and Rahul Jadhav; and Phil Porras, cybersecurity industry luminary, are a part of our amazing founding team. As organizations embrace Kubernetes as a foundational aspect of their digital transformation efforts, run-time security, governance and compliance are strategic imperatives. AccuKnox is uniquely poised to deliver a compelling platform,” said Nat Natraj, co-founder, CEO, AccuKnox. “This is a massive market opportunity for AccuKnox, and we look forward to working in close concert with our new investors to deliver run-time Kubernetes and data security in a DevSecOps model.”

SRI’s pioneering R&D contributions (including the computer mouse, SIRI, Robotic Surgery and Intrusion Detection) are foundational to modern society. “Our nonprofit mission is to use technology to make the world safer, healthier and more productive,” said Dr. Manish Kothari, President of SRI International. “Combining our cutting-edge research with a proven team at AccuKnox allows us to do just that. We are thrilled to be partnering with Nat Natraj and the AccuKnox team.”

AccuKnox is working with security leaders and is targeting GA (General Availability) of its platform in Q4 2021.

“Container usage for production deployments in enterprises is still constrained by concerns regarding security, monitoring, data management and networking.” — Gartner, Best Practices for Running Containers and Kubernetes in Production, August 4, 2020.
“Container adoption is increasing, and security must come along for the ride. Organizations value the scalability and agility that containers offer, but containers introduce new security challenges that can’t be addressed with traditional security and networking tools. Commonly accepted security tools like vulnerability scanners, network forensics, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) are too heavyweight for a container environment. Security pros need cloud native tools that are purpose-built for high scale, lightweight, ephemeral container environments.” — Best Practices For Container Security, Forrester Research, July 24, 2020.
“AccuKnox’s foundational innovations in the areas of container security, un-supervised Learning and data provenance are precisely what is needed for delivering a comprehensive and robust cloud native Zero-Trust security platform.” — Chase Cunningham, Renowned CyberSecurity Analyst and Zero-Trust expert.

About AccuKnox

AccuKnox provides a Zero Trust Run-time Kubernetes Security platform. AccuKnox is built in partnership with SRI (Stanford Research Institute) and is anchored on seminal inventions in the areas of: Container Security, Anomaly Detection and Data Provenance. AccuKnox can be deployed in Public and Private Cloud environments. Visit www.accuknox.com or follow us on Twitter (@accuknox).

About National Grid Partners

National Grid Partners (NGP) is the venture investment and innovation arm of National Grid plc., one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world. NGP invests for strategic and financial impact and leads company wide disruptive innovation efforts. The organization provides a multi-functional approach to building startups, including innovation (new business creation), incubation, corporate venture capital, business development and culture acceleration. NGP is headquartered in Silicon Valley and has offices in Boston, London, and New York. Visit ngpartners.com or follow us on Twitter (@ngpartners_).

Contact:

Nat Natraj, co-founder, CEO

n@accuknox.com

@N_SiliconValley

Prescient Devices secures $2M funding for low-code IoT development software

Prescient Devices, a platform for internet of things (IoT) software and service development, today announced that it raised $2 million in seed funding. The company says it’ll put the proceeds toward product ideation and ramping up its sales and marketing programs.

Global IoT revenue hit an estimated $1.7 trillion in 2019, when the number of edge devices connected to the internet exceeded 23 billion, according to CB Insights. But despite the industry’s growth, not all organizations think they’re ready for it. In a recent Kaspersky Lab survey, 54% said the risks associated with connectivity and integration of IoT ecosystems remained a significant blocker.

Prescient offers a low-code programmable platform that allows system integrators, IT engineers, and data scientists to build IoT and edge computing solutions. The platform, which can deploy firmware to fleets of IoT devices, delivers templates that connects sensors to the cloud, enabling remote monitoring and industrial automation. Prescient customers gain access to drag-and-drop graphical programming interfaces, modules, and recipes that they can use to program edge devices, edge and cloud dashboards, and cloud functions. They’re also provided a library of reference solutions for popular sensors and devices.

There’s an abundance of tools promising to simplify IoT development and management at the edge including Google’s Cloud IoT Edge, Amazon’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT, Microsoft’s Azure Sphere, and Baidu’s OpenEdge, as well as Zededa, Particle, and Balena. But CEO Andy Wang asserts that Prescient has an advantage in the scalability of its approach.

“We uniquely focus on removing the technology barrier for engineers, integrators, and data scientists to build, and accelerate IoT applications, helping deliver new business applications to the commercial market. The growing interest and active engagement from our users have been amazing,” Wang said in a press release.

Pandemic-fueled growth
In what’s been a boon for Prescient, the pandemic has contributed to the growth of the larger IoT market. Microsoft’s 2020 IoT Signals report indicates that 33% of decision makers plan to up their IoT investments, while 41% say their existing investments will remain the same. Meanwhile, a recent Deloitte survey found that respondents believe IoT will have the largest impact on their organizations compared with AI and cloud infrastructure.

“Our growing community has already developed active IoT applications for predictive maintenance, machine vision, and test automation within weeks of concept and transforming the entire approach to IoT business automation and edge intelligence applications,” Wang continued. “This round of funding will help accelerate our ability to better support our customers while expanding [the Prescient platform’s] functionality.”

Z5 Capital led Boston, Massachusetts-based Prescient’s latest funding round, which had participation from angel investors at MIT and the Harvard Business School.

Sauce Labs Enters into Definitive Agreement to Acquire AutonomIQ

Planned acquisition bolsters continuous testing platform with leading scriptless test automation solution
Planned addition of scriptless test automation expands and complements company’s existing capability set, enabling continuous testing leader to serve broader range of users and use cases

SAN FRANCISCO – February 2, 2021 – Sauce Labs Inc., the leading provider of continuous testing solutions that deliver digital confidence, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire AutonomIQ, a leading provider of scriptless test automation solutions. AutonomIQ leverages powerful AI and ML capabilities to help users quickly and easily create and execute tests for modern SaaS and low-code applications. The planned acquisition further expands and enriches the depth and breadth of the Sauce Labs portfolio, adding scriptless test automation to a growing capability set that now also includes API testing, visual testing, and front-end performance testing in addition to the functional UI testing for which the company is known.

“We’re thrilled to kickoff 2021 by picking up right where left off in 2020,” said Aled Miles, president and CEO, Sauce Labs. “On the heels of our recently announced acquisition of API Fortress, we are poised to add yet another essential piece to the testing collaboration platform, one that will help our customers continue to accelerate their digital initiatives. We look forward to welcoming the people and products of AutonomIQ and to seeing them grow and thrive as part of the Sauce Labs team.”

The planned acquisition of AutonomIQ complements the company’s existing expertise in Selenium, Appium, and other leading scripted test frameworks, enabling Sauce Labs to serve a broader range of users and use cases. AutonomIQ is ideally suited for the emergent class of users such as citizen developers, manual testers, product managers, and business analysts who lack the coding expertise required to write test scripts, and for the growing volume of smaller, less complex business applications for which the full power of scripted test frameworks is not required. The solution is also ideal for administrators of Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow, Oracle, SAP, and other SaaS applications now common in the modern enterprise, who simply seek to define business processes and make sure their custom SaaS app follows those processes as intended.

“Sauce Labs and AutonomIQ are a perfect pairing for any organization that understands the expanded role automated testing now plays in delivering quality applications at speed,” said Ram Shanmugam, founder and CEO, AutonomIQ, who will join the Sauce Labs leadership team upon close of the planned acquisition. “I’m incredibly proud of everything we accomplished at AutonomIQ and am excited about the opportunity for continued growth that being part of Sauce Labs affords us. We built AutonomIQ on a fierce commitment to innovation and customer service, and I have no doubt that will continue, as Sauce Labs shares those same passions.”

The changing face of modern business applications

Though Selenium, Appium, and other powerful scripted test frameworks remain ideal for automated testing of larger and more complex applications, smaller, low-code applications are becoming increasingly common in the enterprise, driven by a surge in the prevalence of SaaS business applications. Not only are these applications far more limited in functionality and scope than their more complex counterparts, making it simpler than ever to describe the functions and processes they can and cannot perform, but they are often managed and administered by users without expertise in coding and test creation.

“With the continued maturation of AI and ML capabilities, there is now both a need for and opportunity to deliver easy-to-use, scriptless test automation solutions that address those users and use cases for which scripted frameworks are not the ideal solutions,” said John Kelly, CTO, Sauce Labs. “The planned acquisition of AutonomIQ lowers the barrier to entry for Sauce Labs users lacking background or proficiency in the coding of automated test scripts, while also providing additional value to traditional Sauce Labs users who, while proficient with scripted frameworks, are nonetheless responsible for many test cases where simple, easy-to-use scriptless automation can save them time and help them be more productive.”

Simple low-code automation with AutonomIQ

AutonomIQ provides users with a simple yet powerful scriptless test automation platform that dramatically lowers the barriers to entry that have historically prevented many organizations from getting their automated testing initiatives off the ground. The AutonomIQ platform leverages sophisticated AI/ML to understand natural language descriptions of test cases, or captured mouse clicks, and then generates synthetic data and robust automated testing that “self heals” when the app changes. AutonomIQ offers a variety of solutions purpose-built for the testing of modern SaaS business applications, including Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday, Oracle, and SAP.

To learn more about AutonomIQ, go here.

The acquisition is expected to close in February subject to customary closing conditions.

About Sauce Labs

Sauce Labs is the leading provider of continuous testing solutions that deliver digital confidence. The Sauce Labs Continuous Testing Cloud delivers a 360-degree view of a customer’s application experience, ensuring that web and mobile applications look, function, and perform exactly as they should on every browser, OS, and device, every single time. Sauce Labs is a privately held company funded by TPG, Salesforce Ventures, IVP, Adams Street Partners, and Riverwood Capital.