Security tech startup Vanta secures $50M in Series A funding led by Sequoia to automate security monitoring

As the SaaS market expanded to more than $150 billion in 2020, the risks and costs associated with security breaches have similarly expanded. In 2020, in the United States alone, more than 150 million people were affected by data breaches. Enter Vanta, a San Francisco-based security startup that restores trust in internet businesses by giving startups and large companies an easy-to-use set of tools to improve and prove their security.

Obtaining SOC 2 compliance—an industry security and data protection auditing procedure—can take a company many months of repetitive work. Vanta allows companies to prepare for SOC 2 audits in a matter of days, with an automated continuous monitoring platform that connects to services including Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, GitHub, Okta, and Slack.

Conventional methods of preparing for a compliance audit are manual, laborious, and error-prone. Vanta helps startups become secure and prove their security to customers, leveling the internet’s playing field and allowing startups to compete with larger companies on their merits.

Today, Vanta announced it has closed $50 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from existing investor Y Combinator. The company will use the new funding to meet customer demand, launch new products, and open a second office in New York. Along with the funding, Vanta also said that Sequoia General Partner Andrew Reed will join its board of directors.

Founded in 2017 by Christina Cacioppo and Erik Goldman, Vanta helps automate security monitoring by simplifying the complex, time-consuming, and tedious process of becoming SOC 2, HIPAA, or ISO 27001 compliant so companies can focus on growing their businesses. Nearly 1,000 market-leading companies, including Clubhouse, Lattice, Calm, Loom, Notion, and UserTesting, trust Vanta to power their security and compliance.

“We’re at a crucial turning point as an industry: software is a huge part of our lives, but we trust software companies less than ever before,” said Christina Cacioppo, Vanta’s CEO. “At Vanta, we’re pioneering a continuous, automated approach to security and compliance that protects customer data and helps grow these businesses.”

Vanta has seen tremendous growth since coming to market in 2018. In two and a half years, the company has surpassed $10 million in annual recurring revenue through word-of-mouth growth and continues to double its customer base every six months, all without an official launch.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Christina and Vanta. Many Sequoia-backed companies already work with Vanta to prove their security and accelerate their growth, with great results. We’ve heard clear praise for Vanta’s product and team,” said Andrew Reed, Partner at Sequoia. “Vanta has an uncommon product-market fit and is building a category-defining business. We’re excited to partner with Vanta to accelerate its adoption with global software companies and its hiring of top talent across every function.”

“While the end result of the SOC 2 process is a more secure organization, there is a huge amount of unnecessary pain and busywork involved in the accreditation and renewal process,” said Jack Altman, CEO of Lattice. “Vanta is simplifying that massively for teams.”