Security startup StackHawk raises $20.7m Series B funding for developer-first application and API security testing

StackHawk, the company making application security testing part of software delivery, has secured $20.7 million in capital co-led by Sapphire and Costanoa Ventures, with participation from Foundry Group and other high-value investors. With this funding, StackHawk will invest in product development to maintain its market leading position in developer-first application and API security testing. This latest financing brings StackHawk's total funding raised to $35.3 million.

Joni Klippert, Co-founder and CEO, StackHawk: "Security has never been more important than it is today. Organizations of all sizes across all industries know that they have a gap in how they approach security, and they are recognizing the need for what we do even before we speak with them. As the leader in advanced dynamic security testing, the market pull for our solution drove the funding round. We will use the new capital to continue to invest in our product, grow our leadership team and significantly increase funding for marketing, sales and partnerships. Our recently announced Snyk integration, which is already driving value with joint customers, is a great example of this."

Every modern software development organization has shifted from quarterly releases to daily or hourly releases, incorporating Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD). In the modern world of FinTech, HealthTech, cloud analytics and AI platforms, customers are entrusting their most critical data to software providers. Periodic manual security testing by an external team is simply too risky. Because of this, modern software development organizations are extending CI/CD to encompass Continuous Application and API Security Testing. This way, security can "shift left," meaning vulnerabilities can be detected while the developer is actively working on the code.

David Hartwig, Partner, Sapphire Ventures: "There is a serious gap for modern tooling that helps teams efficiently deliver secure applications. In the same way CI/CD has revolutionized how developers deliver quality applications, StackHawk is ensuring security testing is an extension of the process, making security part of the code quality discussion for developers. Sapphire is excited to have seen the value in providing developer-first application and API security testing early on, leading StackHawk's Series A. We are proud to reaffirm our commitment to StackHawk with this round as we feel Joni, the team and product are set to thrive in this high growth market."

Forrester reports that web application and API exploits are the most common form of external attack affecting organizations today. To better protect from these threats, 43% of global security decision makers are looking to implement dynamic application security testing during software development, which presents a massive opportunity for StackHawk.

Greg Sands, Founder and Managing Partner, Costanoa Ventures: "StackHawk's track record of delivering is what made us want to co-lead this round. The executive team's blend of expertise across security and DevOps has created a tool that every developer will need. From our experience investing in high-growth software companies, we know security is no longer optional. Finding modern security tooling is top of mind for today's engineering leaders, especially for those in highly-regulated industries with strict regulations and compliance standards for data protection."

www.stackhawk.com