Panaseer raises USD10m in Series A funding

Cyber security software company Panaseer has secured USD10 million in a Series A funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners with participation from existing investors including Notion Capital, Albion Capital, Winton Ventures and Paladin Capital Group, as well as new investor Cisco Investments.

The Panaseer platform uses proprietary algorithms to perform ‘entity resolution’ to create an accurate view of an organisation’s assets, such as devices, applications and people. The platform continuously measures the security of these assets by automatically analysing data from the myriad of security technologies deployed. This gives key stakeholders a live view of risk to those assets, described through a common security framework such as the NIST. 

By combining this asset and control information with vulnerability and threat data, the Panaseer platform aims to provide full visibility of an organisation's cyber hygiene. Panaseer says this allows clients to do the tough fundamentals of security much better, with the platform delivering out of the box analysis for a range of security use cases, including: smart device inventory; vulnerability management; patch management; end point protection; and privileged access management.

In turn, Panaseer says this empowers CISOs to take the best value actions to reduce risk, and report this to key stakeholders – such as the Board – quickly and effectively. This automatic, data driven approach to cyber risk reduction enables organisations to fire-proof rather than fire fight. 
Panaseer was founded in 2014 by a team of computer and data scientists, including Nik Whitfield, who previously led the CyberReveal analytics business. Alongside them is Panaseer’s Commercial Director, Albert Plattner, formerly Managing Director at Citigroup Corporate & Investment Bank. Panaseer has 33 employees across two offices in London and New York. Panaseer’s total funding to date is USD15.6 million, including a USD5.6 million seed round in 2017.

Whitfield says: “Organisations are under immense pressure due to high-profile data breaches, disruptive ransomware such as WannaCry and NotPetya, and an evolving regulatory environment, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Organisations can never be 100 per cent secure, but they can be 100 per cent sure of their position, and that’s where Panaseer’s technology comes in. We are solving a major industry pain point that every company in the world needs to address.”

Richard Seewald, Founder and Managing Partner at Evolution Equity Partners, adds: “We believe the attributes of the Panaseer platform are unique and provide the company with a cutting edge advantage in the global marketplace. Cyber hygiene needs to be prioritised and drilled down into every organisation, and Panaseer’s approach provides inside-out visibility on an enterprise’s cyber security risk posture while automating data processing, risk analysis and remedial actions. We welcome Panaseer to our portfolio of leading cyber security companies.”

Rob Salvagno, Vice President of Corporate Development and Cisco Investments, says: “Managing an effective cyber posture is difficult, especially given the security complexity organisations face with dozens of vendors in place. Panaseer clearly understands this and confronts it with innovation that streamlines an organisation’s view of their security posture to better automate cyber risk management. Cisco’s investment reflects our mission of delivering effective security that is simple, open and automated to improve our customers’ security posture.”

Margot James, Britain’s Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, says: “The UK is home to a booming cyber security sector and it is fantastic to see new investment in Panaseer which will help it expand internationally. We are committed to making the UK the best place to start and grow a business and are establishing two world-first cyber innovation centres to help the country's innovative firms take the next step.”