Contrast Security, the pioneer in enabling "self-protecting" software with security safeguards built directly into critical applications, today announced it has landed strategic corporate investments by AXA Strategic Ventures and Microsoft Ventures. This financing is a subsequent closing to Contrast's Series C round announced in October 2017.

The investments indicate mounting cross-industry support for Contrast's unique software security approach. AXA Strategic Ventures is the venture capital fund backed by AXA, the leading global insurer and asset manager. AXA has been on the forefront of developing cyber-insurance products, designed to protect corporations and its customers from financial loss and support business continuity. Microsoft Ventures is the corporate arm of Microsoft, the leader of digital transformation in the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Microsoft Ventures partners with visionary entrepreneurs and startups, like Contrast Security, looking to drive transformation through innovative new technologies.

"Contrast Security is revolutionizing application security, making it continuous and highly accurate throughout the software lifecycle," said Alex Scherbakovsky, General Partner at AXA Strategic Ventures. "This investment also reflects our confidence in the strength of Contrast Security's management team."

Contrast Security arms developers and security professionals with the tools they need to both detect software vulnerabilities early in development and maintain continuous application attack monitoring and blocking into production. By eliminating the number one source of security breaches today - insecure software applications - Contrast Security helps reduce AXA's customers' risk. AXA further demonstrated its commitment to building digital resilience, by also deploying Contrast Security in AXA Switzerland and AXA Germany.

"We have transformed our whole Application Development into agile DevOps teams. With Contrast Security technology, all agile developers can build secure applications," said Andreas Maier, CIO and Member of the Executive Board, AXA Switzerland. "Contrast is fully automated in our Jenkins-based continuous integration/deployment environment, which supports our high productivity and security targets."

Contrast Assess and Contrast Protect work together continuously across popular development (Agile, waterfall, etc.) and deployment (DevOps, cloud, containers, hybrid, etc.) methods to enable protection throughout the software lifecycle. This unified Contrast Security platform provides the missing component that enables enterprises to succeed in their digital transformation efforts while minimizing risk.

"Application security is the fastest growing category in the global IT security market," said Rashmi Gopinath, partner at Microsoft Ventures. "From developers using Microsoft Visual Studio, to organizations running their critical applications in the Azure cloud, Contrast Security delivers high-end real-time application security to protect against serious security threats. Our investment in Contrast Security is a reflection of our view of its state-of-the-art technology, and our belief in how it will benefit enterprise customers."

"Having two leaders from their respective industries recognize the potential of our self-protecting software is a major milestone for application security and Contrast Security. AXA is a proven innovator in its own right, designing products to protect organizations from loss. Meanwhile, Microsoft Ventures has proven to be an invested partner to startups, offering access to unrivaled technology, go-to market resources and strategic relationships around the world," said Alan Naumann, CEO and board chairman of Contrast Security. "These strategic investors will enable us to accelerate our business goals and further our mission of building security safeguards directly into critical applications. The Contrast team is thrilled to have them as investors and partners."

Contrast's revolutionary approach to application security has won numerous industry accolades this year, including:

-Gartner's only "Visionary" in February 2017 Magic Quadrant Application Security Testing
-2017 SC (Magazine) Awards Rookie Security Company of the Year
-2017 RSA Innovation Sandbox Top 10 Finalist
-2017 CRN Security 100 Winner
-2017 Red Herring Top 100 North America Winner

About Contrast Security:
Contrast Security is the world's leading provider of security technology that enables software applications to protect themselves against cyberattacks, heralding the new era of self-protecting software. Contrast's patented deep security instrumentation is the breakthrough technology that enables highly accurate assessment and always-on protection of an entire application portfolio, without disruptive scanning or expensive security experts. Only Contrast has sensors that work actively inside applications to uncover vulnerabilities, prevent data breaches, and secure the entire enterprise from development, to operations, to production. More information can be found at www.contrastsecurity.com or by following Contrast on Twitter at @ContrastSec.

About Microsoft Ventures:
Microsoft Ventures is the corporate venture arm of Microsoft, (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world. Microsoft Ventures partners with visionary entrepreneurs looking to drive digital transformation. As part of its promise to portfolio companies, Microsoft Ventures offers unrivaled access to go-to-market resources and strategic relationships globally. Microsoft Ventures currently operates in London, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Tel Aviv. Learn more here.

AXA Strategic Ventures:
AXA Strategic Ventures (ASV) is the venture capital fund backed by AXA, the leading global insurer and asset manager. ASV manages 450M$, of which 275M$ for direct investments and 175M$ for the Fund of Funds activity. ASV invests in enterprise software, fintech, consumer technologies and digital health, as well as other technologies relevant to insurance and asset management. With offices in San Francisco, New York, London and Paris, ASV invests globally. More information on www.axastrategicventures.com.