November was a busy month. We held our Fall 2023 Advisory Council Dinner in New York City- thank you to everyone who participated and congratulations to this year's Forgepoint Impact Awardees! Lynx successfully raised its Series A funding round led by Forgepoint with participation by Santander, while AppMap announced Runtime Code Review and its funding raised to date. TechCrunch published Connie Qian's perspective on on securing generative AI while Fox News did a feature on Andrew McClure for Veteran's Day. We released two episodes of the Forgecast starring Erin Joe from Google Cloud's OCISO and Andres Andreu, CISO at 2U. We also posted two new TIPS blogs: #10 on security posture and health and #11 on Living off the Land incidents, which are part of our 12 Days of TIPSMas (follow along!). Read on for more news as we finish 2023 strong and look ahead to 2024. Thanks as always for your interest and support!

Financings and M&A.

Lynx, a leader in AI and ML to combat fraud and financial crime, emerged from 20 years of stealth and co-development with tier 1 financial institutions to announce €17 million ($18M) in Series A funding led by Forgepoint Capital with participation from Santander. Read the press release, coverage in FinTech Global and Forbes España, and Leo Casusol's blog post. 

AppMap, pioneers in runtime code analysis focused on improving software quality and security, announced its AppMap for GitHub Integration (aka Runtime Code Review) at GitHub Universe and $10M in financing from Forgepoint amongst others. Read coverage in SiliconAngle and MarketWatch.

Advisory Council Updates.

Please join us in celebrating the 2023 Recipients of the Forgepoint Impact Awards:

Myrna Soto, Founder-CEO, Apogee Executive Advisors - Trailblazer Award. The former CIO/CISO of Comcast, MGM Resorts International, and BroadSpire, and former Chief Trust Officer of Forcepoint, Myrna is now a member, Board of Directors for several public and private companies that include TriNet, Popular, Spirit Airlines, Consumers Energy, Huntress (a Forgepoint company), Vectra AI, Headspace and Delinea. She brings her energy, passion, extensive experience and deep perspective to guide startups and enterprises alike to growth and success, while helping them manage risk and ensure secure innovation.

Craig Abod, Founder and President, Carahsoft - Catalyst Award. Craig founded and built Carahsoft from the ground up to the trusted government IT Solutions Provider and public sector partner leader it is today. Now 45th on the Forbes 2023 List of America's Largest Private Companies, Carahsoft has more than 2,000 employees and $11B in annual revenue as it continues to define and refine how technology is marketed and sold to the public sector. Forgepoint is grateful for his leadership and the dedicated support of his team which has enabled many of our portfolio companies to succeed in government, education, healthcare, critical infrastructure and other key markets.

James Shira, Principal, Global and US Chief Information & Technology Officer, PwC - All-Star Award. James built and continues to lead PwC's global and US information security function, driving the evolution of the firm’s cyber posture and ability to successfully serve its clients around the world. He has also played a key role in identifying market gaps and opportunities for emerging startups to address. A longtime advisor to Forgepoint and our companies on diligence, product strategy, and GTM, James is also one of the executive champions of our annual Executive Dinner at RSAC. Prior to PwC, he served as Group CISO at Zurich Insurance, CSO at American General Financial Services and CISO Americas at Bank Julius Baer. 

The Latest Insights.

In episode 5 of the Forgecast, Erin Joe, Senior Executive at Google Cloud's Office of the CISO (OCISO), speaks with Alberto Yépez about her career in the FBI, the importance of public-private partnerships, leveraging unique experiences and skillsets to lead effectively, and Google’s approach to responsible AI.

Watch or listen here >

In episode 6 of the Forgecast, Andres Andreu, Former CISO at 2U, speaks with Alberto Yépez about his wide-ranging career across public and private sectors, the human quality in cybersecurity, getting out of your comfort zone, and his role looking after a vast userbase at 2U. He has *just* moved on to Hearst - we wish him congratulations! 

Watch or listen here >

Headlines and Media.

Securing generative AI across the technology stack

 (TechCrunch) Read more >

This Veterans Day, four key lessons on leadership in America from a former Marine: 'Sense of mission'
(Fox News) Read more >

Frontline Issues.

TIPS #10: Security posture and health: how can companies effectively manage risk and protect themselves from cyber threats?

Featuring Bishop Fox, Huntress, SolCyber, SPHERE, Surefire Cyber Inc., and Uptycs. Read more >

TIPS #11: How can companies detect and respond to Living Off the Land (LOL) incidents?

Featuring 1Kosmos, Concourse Labs, Huntress, Lumu, SPHERE, Surefire Cyber Inc., Symmetry Systems, and Uptycs.

Read more > and subscribe here >

Portfolio Company Updates.

1Kosmos announced that their BlockID platform now enables organizations to extend web-based identity proofing sessions to a user’s mobile device for scanning government issued documents. Learn more >

AppMap CTO Kevin Gilpin discussed how GitHub Actions and AppMap can be used together to improve code quality and unlock creativity in an article on DEV Community. Read more >

Bishop Fox VP of Consulting and Cosmos Tom Eston wrote about the history of the Offensive Security mindset, its place today, and where it's going next in the age of AI in an article for SecurityWeek. Read here >

Constella Intelligence data and tools were featured in a Reuters article documenting evidence of fake identities used by North Korean remote IT workers. Read more >

Converge Insurance launched a cyber insurance program with QBE North America. Learn more >

CyberCube and the International Underwriting Association of London (IUA) released a joint report Supply Chain Risk in the Cyber Insurance Market. Read here >

Cyberhaven CSO Chris Hodson spoke to SC Media about how ambiguities in the recent SEC ruling may result in unanticipated consequences. Learn more >

Huntress released their SMB Threat Report to empower SMBs with insights into the latest adversary trends, patterns, and behaviors. Read here >

Lumu founder and CEO Ricardo Villadiego announced Lumu for MSPs Lite, a streamlined no-cost cybersecurity solution for MSPs. Read more >

Rafay announced Templates for AI and Generative AI for developers. Learn more >

SolCyber was named one of CRN's 2023 Stellar Startups. Read more >

SPHERE released a blog post unpacking the 3 C’s in Gartner’s Identity-First Security approach. Read here >

Surefire Cyber appointed Karla Reffold as Chief Product Officer to deliver actionable incident response data. Learn more >

Uptycs announced its Cross-Cloud Anomaly Detection Engine. Read more >

Earlier this fall, our team volunteered with Fertile Groundworks, a Bay Area 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that works to "encourage, empower, and teach individuals and communities to grow healthy, nutritious food, organically and sustainably" and donates tens of thousands of pounds of produce annually to local kitchens and food pantries to help feed those in need. Check out this highlight reel. Interested in hosting a team building event? Learn more and contact their team >

12/12, 1pm ET Huntress is hosting the latest episode of Tradecraft Tuesday A Stocking Full of Tradecraft. Register now >

12/14, 1pm ET 1Kosmos is hosting a webinar Introducing Continuous Identity Verification to Enable the Modern Workforce. Register here >

ON DEMAND SolCyber released an episode of Security Shorts with Scott featuring Doug Miller, CEO and Founder of Brightworks. Watch here >

ON DEMAND SPHERE released the latest episode of Identity Hygiene Live! PKIs are just KPIs. Watch now >

ON DEMAND Surefire Cyber CDO Joe Tarraf was featured in a NetDiligence Cyber Risk Summit webinar Attorney-Client Privilege: Extending the Umbrella? Watch here >

ON DEMAND Uptycs hosted a webinar on the top security takeaways from KubeCon. Watch now >

Portfolio Company Jobs.

Looking for your next career opportunity or know someone who is? Browse or share our portfolio company job board, with nearly 200 open roles across 30 innovative startups.