InfoSec Startup Aqua Security Taps $30 Million in Series D Funding; Eyes Next-gen Container Security Frameworks

The principles of information security models have changed drastically in the last 2-3 years, especially with readily-available Low-code DevOps and Cloud computing platforms knocking at the doors so earnestly. InfoSec, in today’s scenario, guarantees strict compliance to newly established standards in securing Cloud-native applications. Recalibrating new goals for 2020, infosec startup Aqua Security has announced it has raised $30 million from leading VC investment firm- Greenspring Associates — the force behind emerging tech startup firms such as Calendly, Canva, Cheetah Digital, Cloudflare, Cvent, Demandbase, DocuSign, Fuze, GrubHub, MapR, UiPath, WalkMe, and so on.

Aqua’s existing investors – Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and TLV Partners also participated, bringing the total funding raised since inception to more than $130 million.

Aqua’s Cloud Native Security Platform

Aqua bridges the gap between DevOps and security, promoting business agility and accelerating digital transformation. Aqua’s Cloud Native Security Platform provides full visibility and security automation across the entire application lifecycle, using a modern zero-touch approach to detect and prevent threats while simplifying regulatory compliance.

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At the time of Aqua’s funding announcement, Hunter Somerville, General Partner at Greenspring Associates said–

“Aqua has made impressive strides building its customer base and establishing itself as a market leader in securing Cloud-native applications.”

“We are seeing customers continuing their move towards cloud-native technologies, often accelerating deployments as a way to enhance their agility in these unpredictable times,” noted Dror Davidoff, CEO and co-founder of Aqua.

Dror added, “Security remains a key enabler of these initiatives, and with this significant new investment from Greenspring Associates, I feel confident in our ability to drive further innovation across our product portfolio and sustain the competitive advantage we have worked hard to establish.”

Hunter added, “Even under today’s challenging business conditions, the company has demonstrated strong revenue growth, and an ability to introduce new, exciting products that differentiate their offering. With enterprises continuing to migrate aggressively to the cloud, we see Aqua as uniquely positioned to benefit from and enable that adoption.”

• This investment arrives on the heels of Aqua’s dramatic growth over the last several months, including the launch of innovative new products:
• Aqua has more than doubled revenue and headcount in the last 12 months
• More than 400 companies across the finance, energy, aerospace, internet, media, travel, retail, pharmaceutical and hospitality sectors utilize Aqua’s Cloud-native security solutions
• Aqua acquired Cloudsploit in November 2019, expanding the companies offering into the Cloud Security Posture Management market, and introducing the company’s first SaaS offering, Aqua CSPM

In April 2020, the company launched its second SaaS product, Aqua Dynamic Threat Analysis (DTA), the industry’s first sandbox for containers to detect and mitigate the risk of hidden malware.

Amir Jerbi, CTO and co-founder of Aqua. “To achieve these objectives, the container will exhibit a variety of suspicious behaviors, such as unpacking malicious payloads during runtime, opening reverse shell, executing malware from memory to avoid detection, connecting to known command & control servers, and more. By identifying these behaviors before deploying images, Aqua DTA ‘shifts left’ what used to be done only as a late response to incidents during runtime.”

At the KubeCon/CloudNativeCon conference in December 2019 in San Diego, Aqua held its third KubeSec Enterprise Summit. The event drew more than 300 attendees and featured presentations by JPMorgan Chase, Primerica and Duke Energy sharing best practices for securing Kubernetes environments

Aqua has expanded its strategic investment in open source software with a dedicated team of engineers who create industry-standard tools, helping to further accelerate DevSeOps practices and Kubernetes adoption

Currently, Aqua Security helps enterprises secure their Cloud-native, container-based and serverless applications and infrastructure from development to production. Aqua customers include some of the world’s largest financial services, software development, internet, media, hospitality and retail companies, with implementations across the globe-spanning a broad range of cloud providers and on-premise technologies.