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Synack Closes $25M in Series B

2015-02-20
REDWOOD CITY, CA, Security startup that has created a unique enterprise-caliber system to safely crowdsource and manage security testing, today announced it has raised $25 million in Series B funding.
Synack, a security startup that has created a unique enterprise-caliber system to safely crowdsource and manage security testing, today announced it has raised $25 million in Series B funding co-led by GGV Capital and Icon Ventures (formerly Jafco Ventures). This brings Synack's total funding amount to more than $34 million raised in less than two years. Glenn Solomon, managing partner at GGV Capital, and Tom Mawhinney, general partner at Icon Ventures, will be joining Synack's board of directors.

Existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Google Ventures, Greylock Partners and Allegis Capital, as well as Derek Smith, CEO of Shape Security; Ray Rothrock, CEO of Redseal Networks and Timothy Eades, CEO of vArmour, also participated in the round.

CEO Jay Kaplan and CTO Mark Kuhr, former National Security Agency analysts, formed Synack in May 2013 with a unique crowdsourced intelligence model that leverages Synack's top security talent to uncover attack vectors in organizations that can't be detected by technology alone. The company has experienced remarkable success since securing Series A funding nine months ago -- growing revenue by 90 percent, increasing customers by 60 percent and expanding its expert researcher community by 40 percent. Synack continued its focus on recruiting the highest-quality security talent by hiring a new VP of strategy and operations, Gus Anagnos, who previously led information security at PayPal, where he successfully developed and led the first Bug Bounty Program for a financial institution.

The investments from GGV Capital and Icon Ventures validate Synack's position as a leader in reinventing the way enterprises approach vulnerability discovery.

GGV Capital, a successful venture firm that made early investments in Alienvault and Zendesk, understands the security market and, with its impressive presence in Asia, is well-positioned to give Synack a global advantage. 'High profile technology hacks are making headlines nearly every day. Security investment has become the number one agenda item for CEOs, and Synack provides an essential layer of protection in a modern security arsenal,' said Glenn Solomon, managing partner at GGV Capital. 'At GGV Capital, we seek to invest in top teams pursuing very large markets. Synack's clients sleep better knowing the company's experienced, global team of security researchers are working for them identifying and documenting vulnerabilities on a continual basis.'

Icon Ventures will help Synack efficiently scale and accelerate momentum, joining an impressive portfolio of enterprise security companies such as FireEye, Palo Alto Networks and Proofpoint. 'As an experienced investor in the security space, it was easy to see how Synack stands tall as a game-changing company,' said Tom Mawhinney, general partner at Icon Ventures, formerly Jafco Ventures. 'Synack addresses the pain of vulnerability discovery with lightning speed and converts opportunities into customers amazingly quickly.'

'Since our last round just nine months ago, we have been successful in targeting and recruiting some of the most sought-after security researchers in the world to join our team, and we have expanded our customer base across multiple industry verticals including financial services, banking, healthcare, education, retail, entertainment, technology and manufacturing,' said Jay Kaplan, CEO, Synack. 'Synack's rapid growth over the past few months speaks to the ability we have to help enterprises address the massive problem they face in protecting their key information assets using only traditional security methodologies.'

The new funds will be used to continue Synack's fast growth by expanding its exceptional internal security engineering team, as well as recruiting and certifying additional researchers who represent the best, brightest and most experienced security talent from across the globe -- the Synack Red Team. The company will also utilize the funds to expand their R&D efforts and to further develop Synack's state-of-the-art security platform that, when combined with their researchers' human expertise, protects the enterprise against the rapidly-evolving security threat landscape.

About GGV Capital
GGV Capital is a venture capital firm founded in 2000 with the unique idea to have one team investing in both China and the US. With $2.2 billion under management across 5 funds, the GGV portfolio includes Alibaba, AlienVault, BlueKai, Buddy Media, Didi Taxi, Domo, Endeca, FlightCar, Flipboard, GrabTaxi, HotelTonight, Houzz, Kingsoft WPS, Meilishuo, MediaV, Misfit, Nimble Storage, Pactera, Pandora Media, Percolate, Quixey, Qunar, SoundCloud, Square, SuccessFactors, UCWeb, Wish, Youku Tudou, YY, and Zendesk. www.ggvc.com.

About Icon Ventures (formerly Jafco Ventures)
Based in Palo Alto, California, Icon Ventures is a technology venture capital firm specializing in mid-stage investing in companies with great entrepreneurs, compelling business models and strong momentum in their respective markets. Icon Ventures has had the privilege to invest in market-leading companies such as Aster Data, ClairMail, FireEye, 41st Parameter, Infinera, MoPub, Palo Alto Networks, and Proofpoint. For more information about Icon Ventures visit http://www.iconventures.com/.

About Synack
Based in Redwood City, California, Synack is redefining the traditional model of security testing with technology that allows customers to safely engage a global, on-demand community of trusted security researchers. Synack's platform is massively scalable and enables rapid and efficient vulnerability discovery. Synack was founded in 2013 by security experts Jay Kaplan, CEO, and Dr. Mark Kuhr, CTO. For more information, visit www.synack.com.
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