Threat Stack snares $45 million investment as spotlight shines brightly on security

Threat Stack, the Boston-based security startup that helps companies stay protected in the cloud, reeled in a $45 million investment today. It seems that they are in the right place in the right time as news of the Equifax breach swirls on mainstream media.

The round includes a big institutional backer, as fellow Boston firm Fidelity Investments participated through their investment arm, F-Prime Capital Partners. In fact, F-Prime led the round with participation from Eight Roads Ventures and existing investors Scale Venture Partners, .406 Ventures, and Accomplice. Today’s investment brings the total raised to over $72 million, according to data on Crunchbase.

Threat Stack focuses on security for companies doing business in the cloud, whether that’s a cloud-native startup or an enterprise that is taking a hybrid approach, CEO Brian Ahern explained. “Threat Stack’s mission is fairly simply — to enable business of all sizes to securely capitalize on the benefits of cloud computing,” he told TechCrunch. “We target any company moving to the cloud and looking for a more modern approach to security,” he added.

Unlike some security products, which kick in after a breach, Threat Stack takes a more proactive approach. It starts with an analysis for all known vulnerabilities and give you a report on the holes that need to be plugged and software that needs to be patched, something a certain credit reporting company could have benefited from.

“Our platform shows how to fortify the infrastructure by showing where the vulnerabilities are,” Ahern said. For small companies that simply means basic security hygiene. For larger companies that could mean threat hunting, incident response and forensics, he said.

He’s careful to point out that they are not looking to rip and replace, so much as augment an existing enterprise tool set. “On the enterprise side, we are not there to displace enterprise tools that have been put in place, but instead are trying to extend the visibility of the infrastructure down into the cloud,” Ahern said. That means Threat Stack integrates with existing tools like Splunk.

The product is delivered as a cloud service and offered on a subscription. They currently have 350 companies using the platform and they’ve been experiencing impressive growth. “We’ve seen 260 percent customer growth and 360 percent ARR growth since our Series B fundraise in April 2016,” Ahern said.

The company presently has 100 employees and expects to double that in the next year with the help of the new funding round.