Cloud software-as-a-service (SaaS) cybersecurity firm AlienVault, Inc. has raised $52 million Series E in a round led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) that included existing investors Trident Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GGV Capital, Intel Capital, Correlation Ventures, Top Tier and Sigma West.

Founded in 2007, AlienVault targets cybersecurity solutions to companies that lack sufficient staff, security expertise, technology or budget to defend against modern threats.

The company offers a powerful crowd-source threat intelligence and threat management platform called Unified Security Management (USM), that is focused on cutting edge security visibility through flexible integration into the enterprise environment.

As we covered when they last took a round in 2013, USM is heavy on built-in security controls and integration into its AlienVault Labs database, which updates threats and vulnerabilities on an aggregated basis from throughout AlienVault’s extensive user base.

Business is going well for AlienVault, with the company seeing bookings growth exceeding 65 percent year over year and new customer growth exceeding 75 percent over the same period.

The company says it services over 2,000 customers and government organizations including Columbia University, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, NASA and Save Mart, and has been rated in the Visionary quadrant of the 2015 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), recognizing the value of its approach to delivering affordable security solutions.

“AlienVault is a security visionary, focused on developing a new category of unified security management and actionable threat intelligence. Their products help companies detect and deflect targeted attacks in an efficient and timely manner,” General Partner at IVP Steve Harrick said in a statement. “AlienVault offers organizations a unique solution to protect their sensitive data and core infrastructure. We were especially impressed by the company’s strong executive team and board, their practical approach to the market and their enthusiastic and devoted customers.”

Hot market

The new round to AlienVault comes at a time where cybersecurity firms are as hot as Jennifer Laurence on fire playing Katniss Everdeen in a Hunger Games movie.

As we wrote when Microsoft Corp. acquired SaaS cloud-based cybersecurity firm Adallom, Inc. in July, cybersecurity startups and related firms are in serious demand, in terms of both acquisitions and venture capital, driven in a large part due to recent high profile hacks of Target, Sony, Anthem and even the United States Government driving growth for services in the sector, not only with large enterprises but also with small to medium enterprises (SMEs) as well.

Including the new round AlienVault has raised $144.9 million over 8 rounds to-date. Previous investors who didn’t participate in the new round include Adara Ventures, Teledat Group, and Neotec Capital Riesgo.

The company said it would use the new funding to scale its global sales and marketing programs and to increase investments in product innovation for its Unified Security Management (USM) platform and Open Threat Exchange (OTX.)

Image credit: AlienVault/screenshot