Malwarebytes Lands $50M Series B Funding, Looks To Invest In Channel, Acquisitions

Malwarebytes is already well-known in the consumer market for its malware prevention and remediation solutions. Now, with $50 million in new Series B funding in its pocket, the San Jose, Calif.-based company is turning its sights toward the business market, looking to invest in R&D, a growing channel model and key acquisitions.

The funding, unveiled Thursday, is led by Fidelity Management and Research Co. It adds to the $30 million the company raised in July 2014 from Highland Capital Partners.

CEO Marcin Kleczynski, who founded the company in 2008, said the latest round of funding will be put toward growing head count, a new office space in Santa Clara and investments in technology development. Some of those technology investments will come in the form of acquisitions, he said, pointing to areas that would be "good fits" such as remediation and forensics.

[Related: EiQ Networks Lands $9.55M In Series C Funding, Looks To Invest In Growing Channel]

Kleczynski said Malwarebytes will also be investing in its channel ecosystem, which he said is "just starting to blossom." In 2014, the company did about a third of its business through the channel. This year, it did about half of its business with partners, he said.

"That's really our focus for the year," Kleczynski said. "We have a great consumer business and we're trying to get the word out there that we have a big product in the space, and I think the channel is going to help with that in 2016."

While the company has managed to sign up big names such as CDW and Optiv Security, Kleczynski said the company's channel approach is largely unstructured, with sporadic sales from more than 30,000 registered partners. That is an area where Malwarebytes is looking to invest, he said, expecting to overhaul and relaunch its partner program in the coming months.

Gavin Gamber, vice president of channel sales and alliances at Tampa, Fla.-based ConnectWise, which has partnered with Malwarebytes around its RMM solution since late last year, said he was excited to see the company land new funding, as its solution is growing in importance to the company's customers because security continues to be top of mind.

"I think it's great news for all of us whenever an industry leader like Malwarebytes gets such a fantastic commitment from other resources," Gamber said. "We were excited to hear about the funding opportunity."

Gamber said he would like to see Malwarebytes invest further in its integrations to make them even more seamless for customers.

"Without a doubt, it's one of our highest growth areas," Gamber said. "We see the security portfolio expanding and the products we sell [expanding]. Our partners are looking for solutions that they can deploy, schedule and manage remotely and seamlessly."

PUBLISHED JAN. 21, 2016