One thing cyber attacks and startup funding have in common is that often, when it rains it pours.
Columbia, Md.-based cybersecurity startup Bandura Cyber, which developed what's called the threat intelligence gateway along with the U.S. Department of Defense, has expanded its Series A round to total more than $10 million of funding in 2018.
The deal adds onto Bandura's previously reported $4 million Series A round, which was disclosed in August 2018, and a $3.5 million seed round earlier last year. The most recent capital injection was led by New York's Tenfore Holdings with participation from Missouri's Cultivation Capital and locally based Grotech Ventures and Gula Tech Adventures.
Bandura’s software complements firewall systems, automatically processing over 100 million unique threat indicators in front of them. Its goal is to increase the return on existing security investments by acting as a filter for inbound and outbound internet traffic – reducing the burden on a network's firewall.
The company said the funding will accelerate its sales and marketing efforts in financial services, healthcare, energy and government services, and it will provide capital for investments in product development. CEO Chris Fedde told the Baltimore Business Journal that Bandura has more than 30 employees and 200 customers.
Joyce Shen of Tenfore will join the company's board of directors. Local VC groups contributed to the startup's previous funding efforts, including the Maryland Venture Fund and Blu Venture Investors.
“We are grateful for the support of our investors and the opportunity to deliver the power of automated threat intelligence to organizations of all sizes to block known threats at massive scale,” Fedde said in a statement.
Fedde led Bandura through a fast-growing 2018 for the company, earning the recognition of DCA Cyber Star for solving problems in the D.C. region’s high-growth cyber community. The startup also recently signed partnerships with Castra Consulting, Gigamon and other industry players.
“The platform provides significant advancement in intelligent network defense that is ‘plug and defend,’ allowing existing CSOs and their teams to focus on value-added tasks," Tenfore's Shen said in a statement. "We are excited to be a part of Bandura’s growth.”
