Top 5 Startups Solving Cloud Security challenges

CRN has identified 5 cloud security startups founded since 2015 with at least $4 million in outside funding that stood apart from the pack thanks to new funding, the launch of partner initiatives, or key product enhancements or updates. These companies are solving security challenges such as securing cloud-native workloads with in-memory protection, safeguarding the data lifecycle across cloud data stores, and providing centralized insights across on-premise, cloud, and SaaS environments.

1. Aqua Security (CEO: Dror Davidoff): The firm was founded in 2015, and in March closed a $135 million Series E funding round led by ION Crossover Partners to keep improving its product, acquiring additional customers, and educating the market about cloud-native security as it prepares for an IPO in a few years. The company has significant plans to enhance its Kubernetes security offering to address evolving security requirements around the technology. Aqua Security also intends to make big investments around enhancing the security around cloud infrastructure as code (IaC) becomes more of a standard across the industry.
2. Armo (CEO: Shauli Rozen): It  was founded in 2019, and in January closed a $4.5 million seed funding round led by Pitango First to expand its go-to-market efforts and the commercial offering around its technology. The Tel Aviv-based company currently employs 23 people. The company said it provides DevOps teams with a new approach to cloud-native workload and application deployment that infuses inherent security and visibility into applications, creating a virtual control-plane that can be easily deployed in any cloud-native environment.
3. Automox (CEO: Jay Prassl): The new company was founded in 2015, and in April closed a $110 million Series C funding round led by Insight Partners to expand the enterprise functionality of the company’s platform and build out its sales and go-to-market operations. The Boulder, Colo.-based company employs 203 people, up 95 percent from 104 employees a year ago. The company delivers a cloud-native IT operations platform that offers the visibility, automation, and control IT teams need to effortlessly advance operations at scale, streamline IT workflows, and minimize risk and exposure.
4. Cado Security (CEO: James Campbell): It was founded in 2020, and in April closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by Blossom Capital to accelerate the company’s growth through the expansion of key functions including engineering, customer support, and go-to-market operations. The London-based company employs 18 people. Cado’s analytics engine correlates all systems, users, processes, and files so analysts can immediately visualize the scope of an organization’s IT environment. From there, the customer can conduct an investigation in aggregate – rather than analyzing at the system level – to get to the root cause of an incident quickly and precisely.
5. Cyral (CEO: Manav Mital): The new firm was founded in 2018, and in May closed a $26 million Series B funding round led by Redpoint, Costanoa Ventures, A. Capital, and Silicon Valley CISO Investments (SVCI) to help secure the modern data cloud. The Milpitas, Calif.-based company currently employs 46 people, up 53 percent from just 30 employees a year ago. Cyral developed a unique stateless interception technology that can be implemented as securely as code, allowing for ease in implementation and in management across all data services.