Virginia cybersecurity startup Virgil Security has raised $4 million in the first Series A funding round completed by a graduate of startup accelerator MACH37, and another sign of the current wave of cybersecurity startup funding. The funding round, led by New York-based KEC Ventures, comes just two years after Virgil graduated the 90-day MACH37 program.
"We came to MACH37 and they said we had a good idea and should run with it," Virgil CEO Michael Wellman told DC Inno in an interview. "Running through the program gave us the opportunity and depth to go in and verify that the market existed and we could serve it. It very clearly did its job and accelerated us."
The idea in this case was a platform that lets anyone encrypt data sent online. That means cryptographically checking the data verification without a password and all the other techniques cybersecurity specialists use, all with a bare minimum of training.
"If it involves software of any kind, we can make it more secure for you," Wellman said. "We literally add a security layer to the entirety of the Internet."
Virgil's been on a steady rise since graduating from MACH37 and getting the standard $50,000 investment at the end of the program. A year later it picked up another $525,000 in a seed round led by NextGen Venture Partners (then still NextGen Angels), Inner Loop Capital and Panther. The $4 million investment came directly as a result of being part of MACH37, and how the accelerator drew the attention of KEC, founded by long-time tech mogul and Vonage founder Jeff Citron.
"We ran into [Brian Lang Aoaeh, partner at] KEC Ventures at the MACH37 demo day," Wellman said. "If there was a VC that understood the space better, he would be hard to find."
MACH37 is backed by the state of Virginia via the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), which adds extra scrutiny to its graduates. In this case, Virgil's funding success is a feather in the cap of MACH37 and gives Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe plenty of reasons to reinforce his already outspoken view in favor of boosting the profile of technology startups, especially cybersecurity firms, in Virginia.
MACH37 managing partner Rick Gordon wouldn't give any particulars about which graduate might be next to score an investment, but did indicate that there are several such deals in the works. That will be music to the state's ears.
"We're bringing $4 million to Virginia, most of which is from outside the state. The impact lasts," Wellman said. "MACH37 shows the state of Virginia is building a secure future, economically and cryptographically.
