DefenseStorm Secures $12M in Series B

11/24/20

ALPHARETTA, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DefenseStorm, the leading cloud-based cybersecurity and cybercompliance management provider to regional and community banks and credit unions, announced today that it has raised a $12M Series B round, bringing its total funding to $47M. Georgian, a fintech investing in high growth technology companies, led the round, with participation from TTV Capital.

Founded in 2014, DefenseStorm unifies detection, investigation, resolution and reporting into a single system of record to deliver real-time cyberthreat exposure and safety. DefenseStorm’s growth comes at a time in which the financial sector has seen cyberthreats increase rapidly. This round of funding will accelerate DefenseStorm’s capabilities to better help its customers.

DefenseStorm has also secured $7M in growth capital financing from CIBC Innovation Banking.

“Thanks to the support of Georgian, TTV Capital and CIBC Innovation Banking, DefenseStorm is poised for another incredible growth period,” said Steve Soukup, chief executive officer of DefenseStorm. “Our primary goal is to invest our time and resources into our current and potential customers, our hardworking employees and our own innovative solutions to continue serving the financial industry to the best of our ability.”

This round of funding will accelerate several of DefenseStorm’s strategic growth initiatives including technical and user-facing product changes and establishing greater platform efficiency and scalability. In 2020, the financial sector has been faced with a growing threat landscape and continues to undergo a digital transformation. To combat these challenges, DefenseStorm will be bringing its CyberFraud module to market and is focusing on driving high efficiencies through its TRAC service provider team, which delivers blended expertise across cybersecurity and fraud threats.

“DefenseStorm has taken a leading approach to building out their AI capabilities," said Alex Manea, head of security and privacy at Georgian. “The market is demanding effective cybersecurity and compliance solutions, and DefenseStorm is answering on all fronts: efficient service, next-generation platform, and an exceptional team to execute.”

In addition, DefenseStorm has made several critical hires to support these strategic initiatives, adding over 35 years of diverse experience in product management and engineering since early October. DefenseStorm plans to continue strategically staffing the teams required to execute plans for 2021 and beyond.

“DefenseStorm helps financial institutions stay ahead of security threats by ensuring the integrity of their networks and client data,” said Paul Gibson, managing director at CIBC Innovation Banking.“We are proud to work with DefenseStorm to provide flexible financing solutions to help fuel its continued growth and further expand its security and compliance offerings.”

“Regional banks and credit unions struggle with the same complex compliance challenges as larger institutions, but without the budget to effectively solve those challenges,” said Mark Johnson, general partner at TTV Capital. “We see DefenseStorm as evening this playing field, allowing smaller institutions to compete in larger spaces, and we are thrilled to be able to contribute to this mission.”

About DefenseStorm

DefenseStorm provides cybersecurity and cybercompliance solutions specifically built for banking to achieve and maintain Cyber Safety & Soundness. The DefenseStorm GRID is the only co-managed, cloud-based and compliance-automated solution of its kind, operating as a technology system and as a service supported by experts in FI security and compliance. It watches everything on a bank’s network and matches it to defined policies for real time, complete and proactive cyber exposure readiness, keeping security teams smart and executives accountable. FFIEC CAT requirements are built-in and automated, as can be other frameworks and an FI’s own policies, to achieve Active Compliance. A Threat Ready Active Compliance (TRAC) Team augments a bank’s internal team to protect business continuity and skills availability while also ensuring cost-effective coverage and management. For more information, visit www.DefenseStorm.com.

About Georgian

Georgian is a fintech company investing in high growth software companies that harness the power of data in a trustworthy way. At Georgian, we’re building a platform to provide a better experience of growth capital to software company CEOs and their teams. Georgian's platform is designed to identify and accelerate the best growth-stage software companies, taking an intelligent, data-first approach to solving the key challenges CEOs face as they grow their businesses. Based in Toronto, Georgian’s team brings together software entrepreneurs, machine learning experts, experienced operators and investment professionals. For more information, visit https://georgian.io/.

About TTV Capital

TTV Capital is one of the longest active venture capital firms investing in fintech. Bringing more than 20 years of venture investing experience, we identify innovators in financial services and take a collaborative, entrepreneur-first approach to building our portfolio companies. For more information, visit https://ttvcapital.com/.

About CIBC Innovation Banking

CIBC Innovation Banking delivers strategic advice, cash management and funding to North American innovation companies at each stage of their business cycle, from start up to IPO and beyond. With offices in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Denver, Menlo Park, Montreal, New York, Reston, Toronto and Vancouver, the team has extensive experience and a strong, collaborative approach that extends across CIBC’s commercial banking and capital markets businesses in the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit cibc.com/innovationbanking.

Recent Deals

Interested in advertising your deals? Contact Edwin Warfield.