Bessemer Venture Partners led the Series A round with participation from strategic investors. This round brings total funding to more than $8.5 million for the next-generation security provider, which recently announced the beta version of Capsule8 Protect that is being deployed by some of the biggest companies on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley. Capsule8 will use its latest round of funding to further development of the industry's first automated attack disruption platform for cloud-native environments and to prepare for its launch into general availability toward the end of this year.

Capsule8 also announced today that ClearSky Security Managing Director Jay Leek joined its board of directors. Leek joins Bessemer's Bob Goodman and former RSA Chairman and Capsule8 investor Art Coviello on Capsule8's board.

"In less than a year, Capsule8 has made huge strides in product development and early customer traction," said Bob Goodman, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. "The team has a clear vision for the future of security as organizations embrace next-gen technologies like containers and microservices. At the same time, they recognize that while new technologies require a new security approach, legacy environments can't be ignored. Capsule8 is redefining enterprise security with an innovative yet pragmatic solution for the cloud-native world."

Progressive organizations are building and running applications to fully exploit the advantages of the cloud computing delivery model. Yet, this transformation comes at the cost of security and visibility, since infrastructure is pushed to areas that security appliances simply cannot see. This makes attack identification, forensics, and cleanup more difficult and costly than ever. In response, Capsule8 has created the industry's only automated attack disruption platform for cloud-native infrastructures that enables organizations to detect, isolate, and even shut down attacks in the instant they happen without impacting performance. Recognizing that enterprises will take time to fully move to next-generation infrastructure, the Capsule8 platform will also support legacy Linux production environments.

"The cybersecurity industry is in desperate need of updating, as the fundamental ideas and approaches that have driven this sector for the past two decades don't sufficiently address today's world of microservices, containers, and cloud technologies," said Leek. "The Capsule8 team brings a rich pedigree and a highly unique approach to securely enabling digital transformation, which has already resulted in extraordinary beta uptake. We look forward to even more success and wider market adoption with Capsule8 Protect's upcoming general release."

"Our latest funding round is validation that the cybersecurity market is ready to leave behind the poor effectiveness and high maintenance costs of the appliance model, as they move to cloud-native approaches," said John Viega, CEO of Capsule8. "As we prepare to enter GA with our flagship platform, we are psyched to have Bessemer, ClearSky and Art on our team."

About Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) is a $4B venture capital firm that funds consumer, enterprise and healthcare startups around the world, from seed stage to growth. BVP has helped build 117 IPOs, including Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, Shopify, MindBody and Wix. Follow Bessemer Venture Partners on Twitter at @BessemerVP.

About ClearSky
ClearSky is a venture capital/growth equity firm that has been operating since 2012 with offices in Florida, New York, Boston and San Francisco. ClearSky is currently investing through two funds: ClearSky Power & Technology and ClearSky Security. ClearSky Power & Technology invests in innovative companies providing technology and services to enterprise customers, with a special focus on the power sector. ClearSky Security invests in companies that offer transformative solutions for cybersecurity, industrial security and critical infrastructure security.

About Capsule8
Founded in fall 2016 and headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, Capsule8 is developing the industry's first and only attack protection and response platform purpose-built for cloud-native environments. Founded by experienced hackers and seasoned security entrepreneurs, and funded by Bessemer Venture Partners and ClearSky, Capsule8 is making it possible for Linux-powered enterprises to modernize without compromise. Learn more at www.Capsule8.com.