On Wednesday, cybersecurity startup TaaSera announced it secured a $4.1 million bridge funding round as part of a $15 million Series B financing. A group of individual, private angel investors led the round. CEO Scott Hartz told DC Inno he believed they would raise the full $15 million in the coming weeks though his company had only begun seeking this investment in late January.
The Cupertino, Calif., cybersecurity startup—with a major office in McLean, Va.—focuses on cyberthreat prevention and damage mitigation, otherwise called preemptive breach detection. TaaSera develops enterprise products to detect evidence of malicious malware behaviors before data is lost or stolen in potential data breaches.
“TaaSera’s AWARE platform augments the client's existing security investments to protect core systems, delivering actionable insights to client security staff before data loss, theft or damage and empowering them to preempt data breaches and insider threat,” said CEO Scott Hartz.
Founded in 2011, TaaSera has raised $19.7 million to date entirely through an extended “family and friends” round. With a current staff size of 65, the company plans to hire 10 new employees in its McLean, Va., space. By developing cloud-based security assessment tools that continuously monitor network behavior to identify compromised systems, TaaSera has been able to effectively build out its AWARE (Attack Warning and Response Engine) platform. The startup plans to use the new funds to accelerate sales, hire marketing/sales professionals and to further develop its three-part product line.
TaaSera wrote in an executive summary, “The harsh reality of today’s cyber war is 9 out of 10 companies’ defenses are already compromised by malware and malicious insiders, costing companies millions in brand reputation, stolen customer data and intellectual property, business continuity disruptions and fines. A fundamental issue is cyber security’s primary defense of building ever-stronger walls at the edge to keep the bad guys out is failing…”
TaaSera's funding news comes on the same day that President Obama signed an executive order to combat cyber attacks, highlighting the growing demand for innovative cybersecurity firms and cyberthreat solutions. The Executive Order authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury — in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State — to impose sanctions on those individuals and entities that he determines to be responsible for or complicit in malicious cyber-enabled activities.
The startup is led by a heavy-hitting, 10-person group of advisory board members, which includes Tom Ridge, the twice-elected Governor of Pennsylvania and Chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s National Security Task Force. Ridge was the first Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and, in January 2003, he became the first Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Hartz told DC Inno that there were no updates to TaaSera’s advisory board as a result of the funding round.
On its board of directors, retired U.S. congressman James Stanton provides a strong background given his expertise while serving on the Select Committee on Intelligence, the Government Operations Committee, and the Public Works and Transportation Committees. Stanton owns the law and lobbying firm, Stanton & Associates, in Washington, D.C.
Regarding the company’s local office, Hartz said “TaaSera has several team members located in the D.C. metro area including our Federal sales team. Therefore, it made sense to have a significant office for them to work out of and collaborate. Additionally, the federal government and the large company corporate client base in the Washington – Boston corridor make McLean an attractive location. We also find the DC area offers an attractive pool of cybersecurity talent for future expansion.”
