A Chicago cybersecurity startup is gearing up for growth this year with its platform that helps developers quickly catch problems with their code.
Oak9, founded in 2019 by Raj Datta, Om Vyas and Aakash Shah, offers an “infrastructure-as-code” security platform to companies. It integrates into a firm's development pipeline and continuously scans new code for vulnerabilities, sends alerts when there's a problem, and can automatically remediate the code.
It's a useful solution as companies are producing more code than ever on the cloud, said Datta, Oak9's CEO, and are working at speeds that make it difficult for security teams to keep pace.
"With more code, you have more security issues," said Datta, who previously spent nearly two decades as an executive at IBM. "Now that developers are cranking out tons and tons of lines of code, they're able to develop their applications faster than ever before. It's great, but security teams can’t keep up with the speed."
With in-house security teams overwhelmed as companies produce code at breakneck speeds, businesses need a tool like Oak9 to automate the process of flagging security design gaps.
Oak9 works with companies in health care, financial services, hospitality and other industries. Its clients include Chicago tech firms like Avant and Cohesion.
The startup now has nearly 50 employees after starting 2020 with just the three founders. Datta said Oak9 will double its headcount this year with a 500% expected increase in revenue.
Last year the startup raised $5.9 million from Menlo Ventures, Hyde Park Angels and Uncorrelated Ventures.
Datta said while fundraising, VCs told the company they would invest if the startup moved to the Bay Area. But Datta said Oak9 has remained steadfast in being Chicago based.
"Our goal was to build a cybersecurity company in Chicago. There’s not that many of them here," he said. "All of us (founders) being raised in Chicago, we’re very passionate about building a company in Chicago."
