Abnormal Security, reportedly one of the most rapidly-growing cyber security companies in the world, has announced a funding round of USD$210 million, at a valuation of USD$4 billion – after only four years as an entity.
Specialising in email security software for large enterprise, the valuation and capital raising suggests strong demand globally for the company’s AI-based, cloud native platform.
The series C round of financing was led by global software investor Insight Partners, with participation from Greylock Partners and Menlo Ventures.
According to the company the move to hybrid work, fuelled by the global pandemic, has driven security leaders to rethink cybersecurity strategies to better protect their modern workforce. The high volume and sophistication of advanced email attacks has caused significant cybercrime losses, with business email compromise losses alone amounting to nearly $2.4 billion in 2021. Modern email attacks have created an insurmountable challenge for security teams, who can no longer prevent these threats by using manual processes or traditional email security solutions. As a result, enterprises are increasingly relying on Abnormal Security’s AI-based platform to effectively protect their workforce.
“We’ve been delighted with the work we’ve done with Abnormal Security since launching in ANZ. We are seeing more BEC attacks than ever, which is one of the biggest challenges facing companies today and this funding will help Abnormal continue to scale with more resources and coverage in the region. We look forward to continuing that work with them to build a strong, cohesive defence for our customers” said Keith Buckley, CEO at InfoTrust.
Gopal Padinjaruveetil, CISO, Auto Club Group-AAA, explained why the organisation chose Abnormal: “Our secure email gateway solution was failing to stop advanced high-risk/low-volume email attacks like BEC, which created a significant risk exposure to the company. We evaluated numerous email security solutions, and after experiencing an incredible Abnormal proof of value, we realised this is the real deal. It became immediately apparent to our security team that to protect our workforce from devious email attacks, Abnormal’s AI-based solution was the best intelligent, context-aware email security platform available.”
Abnormal protects more than 5% of the Fortune 1000 and numerous notable companies including Xerox, Hitachi Vantara, Urban Outfitters, Groupon, Royal Caribbean International and Auto Club Group-AAA. The company has a 4.9 rating out of 5 for Gartner® Peer Insights™, with a 100% recommendation from participating companies.
“We are fortunate that some of the most notable companies in the world, with large and complex environments, trust our AI-based email security to protect their workforce. I am thrilled about the continued customer trust in Abnormal as evidenced by our 99% renewal rate,” said Evan Reiser, CEO and co-founder of Abnormal Security.
“It is clear that a new breed of cybersecurity solutions that leverage AI is required to change the game and stop the rising threat of sophisticated and targeted email attacks,” said Jeff Horing, co-founder and managing director at Insight Partners. “There is simply too much data for humans to analyse and determine what’s real and what’s a threat. We invested in Abnormal because it is uniquely positioned to protect organisations’ email in the cloud with its AI-driven approach. Secure email gateways can no longer reliably secure email, with many organisations having moved to the cloud and modern attacks successfully evading them. What worked 20 years, or even 10 years ago, is no longer applicable.”
Said Reiser, “The current investment will allow us to accelerate our AI platform innovation to better protect our customers and continue our growth in Europe, Asia and Japan.”
It was a record-setting year for Abnormal. The company tripled its annual recurring revenue, doubled its employee headcount and unveiled its next-generation email security platform: Abnormal Integrated Cloud Email Security(ICES).
For more information on Abnormal Security, please visit https://abnormalsecurity.com/.
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