Tidal Cyber, a D.C. cybersecurity startup that helps companies identify potential threats relevant to their industries, has received backing from Capital One Ventures and USAA.
The company — founded in 2022 by CEO Rick Gordon, Chief Technology Officer Richard Struse and Chief Innovation Officer Frank Duff, all of whom held leadership roles at McLean-based federal researcher Mitre Corp. — said the new capital will help boost product development efforts and support the hiring for more sales and marketing roles.
Tidal did not disclose the size of the investment. To date it has raised at least $9 million from investors, according to figures from Crunchbase Inc.
Neither Gordon nor other company executives were available for an interview. A local tech and venture veteran, Gordon previously served as the director of Inova's Personalized Health Accelerator in addition to funding nearly half a dozen local startups with his own capital.
According to figures from LinkedIn, Tidal has grown its workforce by 78% since October 2022 to include over 30 people, more than half of whom live in Greater Washington. The company lists no physical address for its headquarters.
The startup's approach to cybersecurity, which it refers to as threat-informed defense, is to work directly with customers to identify ongoing threats affecting a particular industry or sector to prepare for attacks and identify possible security gaps. Tidal accomplishes this by granting its customers access to coverage maps that show and prioritize incoming threat information, allowing for quicker identifications of vulnerabilities in a way that's supposed to be more user-friendly and efficient compared to traditional cybersecurity industry practices.
Tidal Cyber does not disclose its customers on its website, but the backing from two large financial services companies would suggest that banks and other financial firms are among its clients. Capital One Ventures, the investment arm that McLean banking giant Capital One Financial Corp. established in 2014, backs companies in various stages of maturity within the data, technology and financial services industries. It has invested in over 70 companies since then and, per its website, many of the companies "have an avenue to commercially engage with us."
San Antonio-based USAA is one of the nation's largest digital-only banks.
“We have witnessed Tidal Cyber drive the adoption of threat-informed defense since the very early days of the company and have been impressed by the company’s rapid growth," Nathan McKinley, USAA vice president and head of corporate development, said in a statement. "With that up-front perspective, it was a natural decision to invest."
