Safe Securities Inc., a startup that helps companies evaluate the effectiveness of their cybersecurity efforts, has raised $70 million in funding.

The Series C round was announced today. Avataar Ventures led the investment with participation from Asia Venture Capital, NextEquity Partners, Prosperity7 Ventures and several existing backers. Former Cisco Systems Inc. Chief Executive Officer John Chambers was among the returning investors who took part.

Safe provides a cloud platform that can automatically find weak points in a company’s cybersecurity posture. It does so by analyzing technical data from the company’s infrastructure along with third-party threat intelligence. According to Safe, its software processes about 3 billion data points per day.

When it detects a security issue, the platform uses artificial intelligence to calculate the likelihood that it will lead to a breach. Safe, might, for example, determine that a misconfigured cloud storage environment has a 30% chance of being targeted by ransomware. Companies can use this information to identify and prioritize the most severe vulnerabilities in their infrastructure.

After spotting a risky system, Safe provides recommendations on how to fix it. When there are several different ways to mitigate a vulnerability, administrators can use a built-in what-if tool to find the most effective method. Safe says that its platform makes it possible to apply some cybersecurity fixes with a few clicks.

The software can spot vulnerabilities in not only a company’s own systems but also those of its suppliers. It carries out the task using more than two dozen AI agents. One agent maps out a supplier’s internet-facing systems, another scans them for vulnerabilities and a third analyzes relevant threat intelligence. 

Safe says that its agents can also identify more subtle risks. The platform enables companies to check if a supplier’s suppliers, which are known as fourth parties, may have vulnerable infrastructure. Safe assigns a risk score to every fourth-party system that it finds during the evaluation.

The platform updates the cybersecurity assessments that it generates as new information emerges over time. Safe can, for example, detect when a vulnerable piece of code is added to a supplier website that was previously deemed secure. The software also analyzes less technical data such as breach disclosures posted to regulators’ websites.

Usually, companies evaluate suppliers’ cybersecurity posture by sending them questionnaires about their breach mitigation efforts. The process can involve a significant amount of manual work. According to Safe, its platform’s automated risk detection features reduce the need to use questionnaires and thereby save time for administrators.

The company claims to have maintained “consistent 120%+ YoY growth” since launching in 2020, though it didn’t provide absolute numbers. It counts Google LLC, T-Mobile US Inc. and other major enterprises as customers. Safe will use the proceeds from its latest funding round to further grow its installed base, as well as build new AI features for automating cybersecurity tasks. 

Image: Safe