Cybersecurity firm Venafi, Inc. has raised $39 million Series C in a round led by QuestMark Partners that include new investors Intel Capital and Silver Lake Waterman, along with a number of unspecified existing investors.

Founded in 2000, Venafi describes itself as the “Immune System for the Internet,” as it develops software to secure and protect cryptographic keys and digital certificates.

The company’s software patrols across the network, on devices, behind the firewall, and throughout the internet to determine which SSL/TLS, SSH, WiFi, VPN and mobile keys and certificates are trusted, and upon discovery of those that cannot be trusted, fixes or blocks them.

Venafi’s software supports discovery of certificates & management of the renewal process among multiple digital certificate certification authorities such as Comodo Group, DigiCert, Entrust, GeoTrust, GlobalSign, Thawte, and VeriSign.

“Digital certificates and cryptographic keys are the foundation of Internet security and Venafi is the leading cybersecurity platform for securing them,” Founder and Partner of QuestMark Partners Ben Schapiro said in a statement. “Venafi is highly unique and addresses a real blind spot that’s under appreciated by many enterprises and represents a huge IT security risk.”

Bad guys

It’s hard not to laugh at references from a company to “bad guys” as Venafi does, but beyond the floral use of language, what the company is delivering in terms of services cannot be underplayed.

Cryptographic keys and security certificates are the core of many online transactions, be it the obvious ones such as your online banking, through to, at some point, virtually anything and everything on the internet.

It’s vital that these keys and certificates be protected against “bad guys” who, as anyone who isn’t living in a cave will know well from constant media attention, are always looking for a way to hack into systems, often for financial gain.

Venafi’s system manages those keys and security certificates so that the “bad guys” can’t get through the door unnoticed, including even in simple terms where, for instance, an employee accidentally gives access to a hacker in a corporate environment, say through an infected USB key or even (it does still happen, seriously), through a nefarious email attachment.

Including the new round Venafi has raised $55 million to date. Previous investors, who may or may not have participated in this new round (names were not disclosed) include Foundation Capital, Origin Partners, and Pelion Venture Partners.

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