Spring has brought exciting developments, from our refreshed brand and website to the "cyber Super Bowl" that is RSA Conference week. Amid the buzz, we were thrilled to welcome Nudge Security, the leaders in modern SaaS security and governance, to the Forgepoint family and to congratulate Noname Security on its pending acquisition by Akamai. Ernie hosted Episode 12 of the Forgecast featuring Ross Haleliuk, product leader, investor, and author of the bestselling book Cyber for Builders, and Shane published our latest TIPS blog on log management. As always, many thanks to all the honored guests, speakers, cohosts, and hosts of everything we hosted and attended at RSA Conference 2024. It is a privilege to partner and we look forward to furthering our collaboration as we back builders of the digital future. See you next year!

RSA Conference was in full effect! Check out our LinkedIn feed for coverage, including our annual LinkedIn rollup, our National Security Social, our Security VC Social, a CISO dinner, the hustle of so many of our companies and teams, talks by Alberto, Don, Connie with Advisory Council Member Erin Joe, OCISO Google Cloud, Pascal Millaire, CEO of CyberCube and Advisory Council Member Julie Talbot-Hubbart, President and COO of Cyderes, and our 14th Annual Executive Dinner at RSAC 2024 (see Tanya's Ten Takeaways that emerged - blog here).

Financings and M&A

Nudge Security, leaders in SaaS and GenAI security, announced $16.5M in Seed funding from Forgepoint Capital and Ballistic Ventures. Funding will accelerate the company's growth as it meets market demand to combat shadow IT and SaaS sprawl amid the explosive adoption of AI and GenAI tools. Read the press release, Alberto's blog post and coverage by HelpNet. 

Akamai Technologies, a leading cloud technology company, announced its intent to acquire Noname Security, provider of the complete API security platform. Read the press release and coverage in TechCrunch. 

Team Updates

We are excited to share our refreshed brand and website!  Alberto discusses what (and who) inspired us, how we have refined our identity, and how we are backing builders of the digital future. Explore our investing themes, companies and entrepreneurs, and advantage on our new website. 

Headlines and Media

• ISMG: Next-Generation Identity Platforms to see Sizable Adoption
  
  
• Pitchbook: Investors see a test for loss-making startups in Rubrik's IPO

The Latest Insights

In Episode 12 of the Forgecast, Ross Haleliuk, Head of Product at LimaCharlie, sits down with Ernie to discuss his early career, starting the popular Venture in Security blog, launching an angel investing syndicate for security practitioners, his bestselling book Cyber for Builders, unique challenges in starting a cybersecurity company, successful partnerships, how cybersecurity companies fail, and more.

TIPS #15: How can companies strike a balanced approach to log management? Shane writes about the unintended consequences of budget cuts and how to make logging a risk management priority, featuring Constella Intelligence, Huntress, Lumu, SolCyber, and Uptycs.  

Portfolio Company Updates

RAD Security was named a top 10 finalist (out of 2000+ companies) for RSA Conference Innovation Sandbox! Kudos to CEO and Co-Founder Brooke Motta on an incredible pitch, and to Brooke, Jimmy Mesta and the entire RAD Security team on pioneering behavioral cloud native detection and response, serving a massive gap in cloud security.

Huntress Managed EDR was featured in 36 unique G2 reports and garnered over 40 leader badges in the G2 Spring 2024 Reports. Congratulations to Kyle Hanslovan, Chris Bisnett, John Terrell and the entire team!

Lumu won two awards from Cyber Defense Magazine's 12th Annual Global InfoSec Awards: Cutting Edge Network Analysis and Visibility and Cutting Edge Network Detection and Response. Congratulations to CEO and Founder Ricardo Villadiego and team Lumu!

BREAKTHROUGHS

Bishop Fox released comprehensive AI/ML security assessments and services to help organizations at any stage of their AI journey.

Lumu introduced Lumu Autopilot: Autonomous Cybersecurity Operations.

NowSecure released the cybersecurity industry’s first automated solution for the OWASP Mobile Application Security Verification Standard (MASVS) version 2.1. 

Secure Code Warrior unveiled SCW Trust Score, the industry's first benchmark that quantifies the security posture of organizations' developer teams. 

Symmetry Systems announced the world's first air-gapped deployment of a DSPM solution. 

PARTNERSHIPS

CyberCube announced a partnership with CatX to empower institutional investors to gain deeper insights into underlying cyber risks when making investment decisions.

Verituity joined forces with Mastercard to accelerate secure domestic and cross-border payouts. The news was even recognized on Mastercard's Q1 earnings call! 

INSIGHTS

1Kosmos took a closer look at the recent ransomware attack on Change Healthcare and the importance of robust identity verification.

AppMap CEO and Co-founder Elizabeth Lawler was featured on The Tech Talks Daily Podcast, covering the evolving landscape where AI meets DevOps, and AppMap's Navie AI.

Constella Intelligence delved into the risk of cyber threats in the age of AI and protecting your digital DNA.

Lynx CEO Dan Dica shared insights on the critical role of real-time analytics in fraud prevention in a guest article for FinTech Intel.  

Rafay published a white paper Automate the AWS Infrastructure That Drives Your Innovation.

ReversingLabs outlined three benefits teams should expect from the intersection of GenAI and threat modeling. 

SolCyber published a guide to CMMC 2.0 levels and how businesses can become compliant.

SPHERE shed insight on the changing landscape of cyber threats in the legal sector.

Uptycs shared why and how to move beyond a hygienic cloud environment with Uptycs Cloud Protection.

Whistic published the 2024 Third-Party Risk Impact Report.

Upcoming Events

5/23 Bishop Fox Sr. Security Consultant David Bravo is leading Hacking AWS Cognito, a webinar exploring how AWS Cognito can become a critical attack vector within AWS deployment. 

5/24 Forgepoint Managing Director Ernie Bio will speak on the latest investment trends at TechCon SoCal in San Diego. 

5/28-5/31 1Kosmos will be at Identiverse in Las Vegas. Stop by booth #2428 and book a meeting with the team to discover how they are revolutionizing identity verification. 

6/4-6/6 ReversingLabs will be in London for InfoSec Europe 2024. Book a meeting with the team at Stand D115. 

6/10-6/12 SPHERE is hosting 360 Summit in Nashville, the premiere event to experience the future of identity hygiene with other cybersecurity leaders. 

6/12 Secure Code Warrior is hosting a webinar on Benchmark the Current State of your Security Program with SCW Trust Score. 

ON DEMAND Converge Insurance co-hosted a webinar Ransomware: Threats, Impact, and Mitigation with Surefire Cyber and NetDiligence.

ON DEMAND CyberCube hosted the Global Threat Briefing H1 2024 Webinar highlighting the latest ransomware trends and reviewing recent attacks and lessons learned. 

ON DEMAND Huntress CEO and co-founder Kyle Hanslovan spoke about the implications of the Change Healthcare hack and system interoperability with ISMG at RSAC 2024. 

ON DEMAND Rafay hosted a webinar Streamline AI/ML Adoption: Expert Strategies to Conquer IT Hurdles and Accelerate Growth. 

ON DEMAND Surefire Cyber CEO and founder Billy Gouveia spoke with Gula Tech Adventures President Ron Gula about cyber insurance, incident response and risk in an interview. 

ON DEMAND SolCyber CEO Scott McCrady spoke with Homaira Akbari, President & CEO at AKnowledge Partners, on cybersecurity in the Board room on Security Shorts with Scott.

PORTFOLIO JOBS

Looking for your next career opportunity or know someone who is? Browse or share our portfolio company job board.