The 10 Top Cybersecurity Startups Of 2018 (So Far)

A More Secure Future

A wave of up-and-coming security firms are looking to make their mark on everything from the endpoint and processors to blockchain and IoT.

CRN has identified 10 security startups launched in the past half-decade that stood out from the crowd this year thanks to new funding, the launch of a channel program, or key product enhancements or updates.

These companies are solving security challenges such as protecting embedded processors from network-based attacks, thwarting threats that move laterally, and providing a consistent experience for corporate applications. Here are the steps these top security startups have taken in 2018 to make themselves indispensable to the channel.

(For more on the biggest news of 2018, check out "CRN's Tech Midyear In Review.")

ALTR

CEO: David Sikora

ALTR was founded in 2014, and emerged from stealth in June to release the first commercial software package that takes advantage of blockchain to allow organizations to monitor, access and store critical information in an ultra-secure manner.

The Austin, Texas-based company's platform is designed to eliminate threats to data through core approaches in private blockchain, in-line data techniques, real-time alerting and reporting for business enablement. Blockchain's original application in cryptocurrencies, however, does not require the flexibility, privacy and performance needed to secure critical corporate information.

The company has raised funding from investors across the cybersecurity, financial services, and software industries, lead by John Stafford III.

Dover Microsystems

CEO: Jothy Rosenberg

Dover Microsystems secured $6 million of seed funding in a round led by Hyperplane Venture Capital to expand its engineering and product development efforts and support key hires across marketing and sales.

One month later, the Waltham, Mass.-based company hired a sales director, finance director and marketing director to further Dover's ability to protect embedded processors from network-based attacks. In May, Dover announced the creation of a formal advisory board, and brought on leaders in industrial IoT, infrastructure security, and startup operations to help guide the company forward.

Dover began being incubated inside of Cambridge, Mass.-based nonprofit research and development organization Draper in 2015 before being spun out as a standalone company focused on processor security two years later.

Luminate Security

CEO: Ofer Smadari

Luminate Security was founded in January 2017, and emerged from stealth two months later with $14 million of Series A funding in a round led by U.S. Venture Partners to expand its operations in the United States and develop its channels and customer base.

One month later, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company announced general availability of its platform, which provides secure access to corporate applications in hybrid cloud environments.

The platform provides employees with a consistent, cloud-native experience around any corporate application regardless of where it's hosted, the device being used or where the worker is located. All user activities are examined against company policies, triggering automatic actions to ensure security is being enforced and to prevent unauthorized access.

Morphisec

CEO: Ronen Yehoshua

Morphisec in February announced that it had raised $12 million in a Series B funding round led by Orange Digital Ventures, Jerusalem Venture Partners, GE, and Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners.

After less than two years in the market, the Be'er Sheva, Israel-based company announced in June that it had deployed its Endpoint Threat Prevention platform on more than one million endpoints worldwide. The company was founded in 2014, announced a $7 million Series A round in 2015, and has enjoyed year-over-year growth of more than 2,000 percent so far in 2018.

The company's technology is able to stop attacks before they can ever execute without requiring any knowledge of threat type or exploit, or any AI or machine learning-based methodology. Morphisec works against threats that often end up bypassing antivirus or other security tools such as APTs, zero-days, ransomware, evasive fileless attacks, supply chain hacks and web-borne exploits.

Nozomi Networks

CEO: Edgard Capdevielle

Nozomi Networks was founded in 2013, and in January announced that it had raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by The Invenergy Future Fund, with proceeds to be used to fuel a worldwide expansion of marketing, sales and support as well as further bolster product innovation.

Four months later, the San Francisco-based company announced new product enhancements, a broadened partner network, and aggressive global field expansion initiatives. From a product standpoint, Nozomi's latest release includes high-availability (HA) features to meet the rigorous needs of large-scale global deployments.

Expansion of the company’s global partner network, meanwhile, is intended to better enable IT/OT integration in customer deployments. And Nozomi's new global expansion will provide CIOs and CISO’s around the world with the security expertise they need to better manage and reduce their OT risks.

Opaq Networks

CEO: Glenn Hazard

Opaq Networks at the start of the year announced plans to onboard between 25 and 30 regionally-focused solution providers to expand its midmarket presence.

Two months later, the Herndon, Va.-based company introduced network segmentation capabilities to its security offering to thwart threats that move laterally between workstations, servers and other endpoints. Later that month, Opaq acquired FourV Systems to automate and streamline the assessment of clients' security architecture and position around regulatory compliance.

In April, Opaq announced it had closed a $22.5 million Series B round of financing led by Greenspring Associates to help accelerate growth and support for the company’s go-to-market initiatives. Opaq was founded in 2017 and has raised $43.5 million through two rounds of outside funding.

Panorays

CEO: Matan Or-El

Panorays was founded in 2016, and emerged from stealth mode in June with $5 million of early stage funding led by Aleph and a focus on automating third-party security management.

The Tel Aviv, Israel-based company provides around-the-clock monitoring and alerting upon attack surface changes, making it easy for businesses to view, manage, and engage with third parties to reduce their cyber risk. With Panorays, companies can shorten their third-party security evaluation process while gaining continuous visibility and ensuring compliance with regulations such as GDPR.

Panorays has thus far been successfully implemented by clients in the financial services, healthcare, automotive, technology, and retail sectors. Through its clients, Panorays has already evaluated more than 10,000 third party firms.

SafeBreach

CEO: Guy Bejerano

SafeBreach in May introduced new capabilities that set it apart by allowing customers to not only simulate attacks and assess risk, but more effectively prioritize areas for remediation and take action to stay ahead of attacks.

Thanks to SafeBreach Labs, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company now has the ability to produce new simulations of critical attacks in less than 24 hours. In addition, the company now offers multiple ways to prioritize and drill down into breach simulation results to better accommodate varied security prioritization preferences for enterprises.

SafeBreach was founded in 2014, and in May closed a $15 million Series B round led by Draper Nexus. All told, the company has raised $34 million through three rounds of outside funding.

Snyk

CEO: Guy Podjarny

Snyk in February launched an add-on for Heroku developers to confirm their open source dependencies are secure in an easy and fully integrated manner. The London-based company now continuously monitors for newly disclosed vulnerabilities in deployed applications and offer fixes for such vulnerabilities.

The company provides security assurance that enables developers and organizations to move quickly and with more confidence to advanced cloud platform such as Heroku, unlocking greater agility and efficiency.

Snyk was founded in 2015, and in March closed a $7 million Series A round led by Canaan Partners and Boldstart Ventures. The company plans to use the proceeds to broaden its language and platform support, scale up its customer support, and move beyond known vulnerabilities in app libraries.

Vdoo

CEO: Netanel Davidi

Vdoo was founded in 2017, and in January closed a $13 million Series A round led by 83North to develop and commercialize the company's IoT security platform. Other investors include Dell Technology Capital and ex-EMC Chairman, President and CEO Joe Tucci.

The Tel Aviv, Israel-based company said its platform provides an automated process for analyzing devices, delivering on security requirements and implementation guidance, and providing security certifications for a full range of connected devices.

Vdoo performs an analysis around the specific security requirement for each type of IoT device, and then provides a detailed recommended action sets to fill security gaps. Once security features have been implemented, Vdoo validates that security requirements have been met and provides physical and digital certifications.