Cybersecurity startup Detectify secures additional $23.1M to grow its ethical hacker network

Detectify, a crowd-based cybersecurity startup that provides website vulnerability scanning, automated security and asset monitoring for organizations, today announced it has raised additional $23.1 million (€21 million) to grow its ethical hacker network. The round was led by London-based VC firm Balderton Capital, with participation from existing investors Paua Ventures, Inventure and Insight Partners.

Founded in 2012 by a team of ethical hackers, the Stockholm, Sweden-based Detectify is a SaaS based website security service that helps organizations automate scanning for continuous coverage. To stay up to date, Detectify uses crowdsourcing hackers to perform automated security tests on web applications and databases and scans critical assets for vulnerabilities including OWASP Top 10, CORS, Amazon S3 Bucket and DNS misconfigurations. 150+ handpicked ethical hackers contribute security findings that are built into our scanner as automated tests. Detectify is used by tech companies including Spotify, King and Trello.

Security researchers submit weaknesses that are then stored in the company’s scanner for future use in security testing. Those researchers also get paid every time the scanner detects that particular vulnerability, which drives the site forward and provides an incentive for the continuation of the model. This methodology also ensures the latest protection.

“Modules from crowdsourcing hackers have now generated 110,000 plus vulnerabilities in our customer base, and the community is about 2.5 times as large now,” Co-founder and CEO Rickard Carlsson said.

Commenting on the funding, James Wise, partner at Balderton Capital, said: “Detectify brings together the power of human ingenuity, the immense scalability of software, and a strong culture of transparency and integrity to provide world-class security to everyone. This is a fundamentally new approach to protecting businesses from new cyber security threats, and alongside our other cyber security investments, including Darktrace, Recorded Future & Tessian, we see Detectify as part of a new wave of solutions to make the web safer for everyone.”