Contrast Security, A Pioneer in Securing Critical Software, Closes $30 Million in Series C Financing

LOS ALTOS, Calif., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Contrast Security, the pioneer in enabling "self-protecting" software with security safeguards built directly into critical applications, today announced it has completed a $30 million Series C financing round led by new investor Battery Ventures. Existing investors General Catalyst and Acero Capital also participated in the round. This financing, following a year of doubled growth and numerous industry awards, brings the company's total funding raised to $54 million.

The funding will accelerate Contrast Security's technology innovation, global expansion and growth in its customer-success team to meet increasing demand for the company's unique approach to application security. With over 100 billion new lines of software code written in 2017, and software shifting to the cloud, organizations are recognizing the criticality of building security safeguards directly into applications as they are developed and deployed, instead of dealing with security problems after the fact. The increasing number of highly public breaches stemming from insecure software applications further demonstrates that traditional security testing and attack protection tools are failing.

"Contrast Security is taking a truly innovative approach to a decades-old problem, and one that is only growing more important as agile software is driving digital transformation across many businesses," said Dharmesh Thakker, a Battery Ventures general partner. "In addition to focusing on the security perimeter, companies and organizations need to train their sights on the safety of their 'crown jewels' ? their core software ? and start building security into key applications from day one. Contrast has established itself as a leader by enabling organizations to do exactly that. We see big growth potential in this market."

As software continues to advance and accelerate, with continuous improvement and increased reliance on open and crowd sourced components, true security becomes increasingly elusive. Contrast Security keeps pace with constantly evolving software by giving developers and security professionals the tools they need to both detect vulnerabilities early and maintain continuous attack monitoring and blocking.

Two of the company's products, Contrast Assess and Contrast Protect, work together continuously across popular development (Agile, waterfall, etc.) and deployment (DevOps, cloud, containers, hybrid, etc.) methods to enable protection throughout the software lifecycle. This unified Contrast Security platform provides the missing component that enables enterprises to succeed in their digital transformation efforts while minimizing risk.

"We live in a world based on software that is inherently risky and businesses, consumers and shareholders are paying the price. As we've seen with Equifax, the software security problem is real, costly and complex, while the solution is quite simple," said Alan Naumann, CEO and board chairman of Contrast Security. "Contrast Security has already proven that companies can, in fact, respond quickly and effectively to vulnerabilities before attacks even start. Battery Ventures has a history of helping companies and entrepreneurs with game-changing technology in the application performance monitoring, DevOps and cybersecurity categories achieve significant market impact. This funding will enable us to scale to meet the market demand and help companies make self-protecting software an industry standard."

"From social security numbers to driver's license numbers, our customers share massive amounts of information online. It's our mission to make sure our customers are secure," said Lance Harris, CISO of Esurance. "As we've undergone our digital transformation initiatives, our business relies heavily on software, thereby making the need for application security essential. If organizations don't build it into the software lifecycle, we are guaranteed to see an increase in data breaches and cyberattacks. Application security is absolutely critical and we encourage the rest of the industry to take the same measures to ensure their applications are safe." 

"I've been an innovator in the security industry for over 15 years, and I've witnessed first-hand how complex and massive the challenge is to test and secure enterprise software applications," said Brian Chess, author of "Secure Programming with Static Analysis" and one of the founders of Fortify Software. "I'm delighted to see the investment community, and Battery Ventures in particular, has recognized Contrast Security as having the critical secret sauce to tackle the number one source of cybersecurity breaches."

Contrast's revolutionary approach to application security has won numerous industry accolades this year, including:

• Gartner's only "Visionary" in February 2017 Magic Quadrant Application Security Testing
• 2017 SC (Magazine) Awards Rookie Security Company of the Year
• 2017 RSA Innovation Sandbox Top 10 Finalist
• 2017 CRN Security 100 Winner
• 2017 Red Herring Top 100 North America Winner

About Contrast Security:
Contrast Security is the world's leading provider of security technology that enables software applications to protect themselves against cyberattacks, heralding the new era of self-protecting software. Contrast's patented deep security instrumentation is the breakthrough technology that enables highly accurate assessment and always-on protection of an entire application portfolio, without disruptive scanning or expensive security experts. Only Contrast has sensors that work actively inside applications to uncover vulnerabilities, prevent data breaches, and secure the entire enterprise from development, to operations, to production. More information can be found at www.contrastsecurity.com or by following Contrast on Twitter at @ContrastSec.

For more information:
Jacklyn Kellick
LEWIS Communications for Contrast Security
[email protected]
+1-415-432-2415

SOURCE Contrast Security