Portland cybersecurity startup DeepSurface raised a $4.5 million seed round after hitting its sales and revenue targets for its software.
The round was led by Differential Ventures and included Osage Venture Partners, Ginossar Ventures and Peninsula Ventures. The company raised a pre-seed round in 2020 and soon after released its product.
The company’s technology automates part of the process for cybersecurity teams managing devices on their networks. Using automated predictive vulnerability management, DeepSurface’s software looks at the results from vulnerability scanners, then prioritizes which elements need to be addressed based on customers’ needs. The software also suggests how to address the issue.
Currently, this process is manual.
“When you see (a security breach) in the news it’s because of an unpatched vulnerability. Attachers were able to gain access,” said co-founder and CEO James Dirksen in December interview. “We are prioritizing the unpatched vulnerabilities that contribute the most risk at any given time for a company, depending on how the network is built and the permissions users have. Every company has vulnerabilities, but we prioritize based on risk of actual exploitation.”
This means companies can focus resources on the most pressing needs.
Since releasing the product in 2020, the company has converted all of its beta customers to paying customers. It has also seen a robust pipeline of enterprises looking to evaluate and test the product. Current customers include financial service providers, public utilities and other software companies.
Dirksen expects 2022 to be just as strong as 2021, which saw revenue quadruple.
The team is 11, said Dirksen but it is growing. The company is hiring for product development, sales engineering and customer success. The company is remote-first but would like to grow in the Portland metro.
"DeepSurface has a truly unique product that solves a real-world problem in the Cybersecurity world,'' said Mitchell Kleinhandler, managing partner at Differential Ventures in a written statement. “Their platform is easy to integrate into any size enterprise and their customer feedback has been remarkably positive. We’re thrilled to lead the round.”
When it came to raising this round, Dirksen said it was very different than fundraising in 2020. The pre-seed round came at a time when funds were pulling back due to uncertainty around the pandemic and people hadn’t become comfortable with deal making remotely.
The first time around he was able to talk to 20 firms, but this time he talked to about 100. Differential focuses on AI and cybersecurity investments. It was mutual contact that introduced the fund and the company. It was a similar story for Osage, which focuses on early stage business-to-business investments.
Dirksen noted that some of the pre-seed investors, whose thesis allowed, were able to participate in this round.
