Huntress, a SaaS-based managed detection and response (MDR) provider for managed service providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs), today announced an $18 million Series A investment round led by ForgePoint Capital. This funding allows Huntress to accelerate product engineering and development, as well as expand to additional market segments and geographies. In addition, remaining independent enables Huntress to stay committed to channel partners.

This investment round follows rapid customer growth for Huntress which now protects over 1,000 MSP partners, further validating the need for advanced MDR solutions that are effective and affordable. According to the 2019 Verizon Data Breach Detection Report, 43 percent of all cyberattacks were targeted at small businesses. These businesses are under attack just as much as large enterprises, but often lack the resources for extensive threat protection. Huntress will continue to focus on this traditionally underserved market, offering its detection and response services as well as expanding its platform to include recovery.

"Many of these cyberattacks have grown in sophistication and SMBs are demanding advanced capabilities from their IT and security providers to defend themselves," says Ernie Bio, Vice President at ForgePoint Capital. "To meet this growing demand, the Huntress team built an accessible MDR as a service solution. We at ForgePoint are impressed by the Huntress team's domain expertise, relentless drive, and passion to protect all customers from today's advanced cyberthreats." Bio will be joining the Huntress board along with Alberto Yépez, Co-Founder and Managing Director of ForgePoint.

Founded in 2015, Huntress introduced a new cloud-delivered approach to MDR centered around detecting malicious footholds and attacker persistence. The company was founded by former NSA Cyber Operators Kyle Hanslovan, Chris Bisnett, and John Ferrell, who have a combined thirty years experience working on offensive cyber operations. While building the company and speaking with partners, they recognized a need for security solutions purpose-built for smaller businesses who have constrained IT budgets and resources.

"While working at NSA and cooperating with FBI, we saw firsthand how attackers establish persistence in systems, either waiting for the opportune moment to attack or selling access as part of a full-fledged business model," says Kyle Hanslovan, CEO of Huntress. "We wanted to make threat detection available to small businesses, who are under attack just as much as large enterprises. We call it cybersecurity for the 99%. We believe that the best way to effectively reach these businesses is by enabling and empowering the channel."

According to Gartner, Inc., "By 2024, 25% of organizations will be using MDR services, up from less than 5% today." Gartner recommends that security and risk management leaders "use MDR services offering a turnkey technology approach when there is little to no existing investment related to security technologies for threat detection and forensics, and when the speed to implement MDR services is important."*

Huntress protects nearly half a million endpoints today. Its offerings are directed at the growing security needs of MSPs and VARs by focusing on cloud-delivered technology through simple agent deployment without requiring additional security investment.

"We have been with Huntress since the beginning. Huntress has made it very simple for us to look beyond endpoint prevention and hunt for persistent threats that have landed on our client endpoints. They have been a great asset to our user community and enabled us to have productive and intelligent conversations with our customers about security. Not only have we been able to better protect our customers, we have seen growth in our business," says Reed Eichner, Chief Technology Officer at Computer Solutions. "We believe Huntress should be part of the conversation around the security stack and are excited to see what they do next."

*Gartner, Inc., Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response Services, 15 July 2019

About Huntress
Huntress is a leading provider of advanced threat detection and actionable cybersecurity intelligence for managed service providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs) to reach small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Huntress has pioneered an effective and cost friendly method to protect at a layer that is often overlooked - footholds that are indicative of malicious activity on customer endpoints. By providing expert analysis and actionable insights based on investigation into those activities, Huntress enables corporate IT teams to quickly resolve incidents. Visit huntress.com for more information.

About ForgePoint Capital
ForgePoint Capital is the premier cybersecurity venture fund investing in transformative companies protecting the digital world. The firm is one of the most prolific investors in early and growth stage cybersecurity companies with over 40 global cybersecurity investments. The team brings more than eight decades of company building, value creation experience and draws upon the largest network of trusted cybersecurity industry experts and customers to support entrepreneurs who are building great companies. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the firm partners with exceptional cybersecurity entrepreneurs worldwide. Visit forgepointcap.com for more information.