MDSV leads Seed Prime investment in AccuKnox, provider of Zero Trust CNAPP and CNCF OpenSource project KubeArmor, supported by a strong syndicate of investors: Avanta Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, DreamIT Ventures, 5G Open Innovation Labs and National Grid Partners.

MENLO PARK, March 20, 2023 – AccuKnox, formed in a strategic partnership with SRI, today announced that it has closed $6.0 million Seed Prime financing led by MDSV, supported by new investors Avanta Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Dreamit Ventures, and 5G Open Innovation Labs, with strong support from existing investor National Grid Partners.

The funding will be utilized to expand the company’s go-to-market efforts and R&D investments for AccuKnox Zero Trust CNAPP (Cloud Native Application Protection Platform) and KubeArmor® CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) OpenSource platform. Built on this OpenSource foundation, AccuKnox Zero Trust CNAPP is an integrated Cloud Native Security platform that includes:

• CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management)
• KSPM (Kubernetes Security Posture Management)
• CWPP (Cloud Workload Protection Platform)

AccuKnox CNAPP features include:

• Integrated Static and Run-time Security
• Support for all Public Clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle)
• Support for On-Prem / Private Clouds (OpenShift, VMWare)
• Automated prioritization of vulnerabilities
• Support for Modern Workloads (Kubernetes) and Traditional Workloads (Virtual Machine, Bare Metal)
• Delivered in a Developer Centric, Shift Left, DevSecOps model
• Open Source Led: KubeArmor 400,000+ downloads, 50% Quarter-Quarter growth
• Roadmap Items: Support for ServiceMesh, Edge/IoT, 5G workloads
• From Code to Run time Security in minutes!

AccuKnox Zero Trust CNAPP was developed in strategic partnership with SRI International, and its core technology is anchored on seminal patented inventions in the areas of Container Security, Network Security, Anomaly Detection (using unsupervised AI/ML) and Data Provenance.

“AccuKnox is a highly differentiated Zero Trust Security Platform. This, coupled with a future- proof road map that covers Edge/IoT and 5G, affords them the ability to address a very large TAM (Target Addressable Market). We are very pleased to support them in their market expansion,” said Michael Downing, Managing Director, MDSV Capital. “We’re confident that the combination of AccuKnox’s proven team and their ongoing strategic partnership with SRI will deliver a category leading Zero Trust security platform to address current and emerging threats.”

Downing will join the AccuKnox board.

AccuKnox’s offerings cater to several fast-growing market segments:

• The global CNAPP market is projected to grow from USD $7.8 B in 2022 to USD $19.3 B by 2027, per ReportLinker
• The global Kubernetes security market will grow from $714.0 M in 2020 to reach $8.5B by 2030, according to Allied Market Research

“AccuKnox and its companion OpenSource offering, KubeArmor, have very powerful capabilities in the areas of in-line mitigation of run-time attacks, and very strong capabilities in the areas of Network Security. These are critical to thwarting advanced Zero Day attacks. Every few years, a disruptive technology emerges which has the potential to uplift the industry in a way that exceeds the incremental advances made by traditional security providers. KubeArmor has exceeded these expectations. We are very pleased to partner with them in their quest to turn their innovation into product and market leadership,” said Golan Ben-Oni, CIO, IDT Telecom.

“AccuKnox’s Zero Trust CNAPP offering plays a critical role in helping organizations leverage the benefits of Digital Transformation while mitigating the associated risks of advanced cyber threats. We are thrilled to support AccuKnox in the next phase of their growth,” – Steve Bernardez, Partner, Avanta Ventures.

“AccuKnox is one of the most advanced Cloud Native Zero Trust CNAPP solutions that combines CSPM, KSPM and CWPP in an integrated manner. Their OpenSource led approach allows them to marshal the power of the CNCF community to address advanced Security Challenges. We are very excited to partner with them in their growth journey,” – Paul Calatayud, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, ONDA.

“Dolby Family Ventures prioritizes opportunities that solve significant social problems to improve access to information, health, security, and quality of life. Our investment in AccuKnox aligns with our mutual goal to make Business Collaboration more streamlined and safer by innovative and differentiated Cloud Security solutions,” – Andrew Krowne, Managing Director, Dolby Family Ventures.

“First Generation Cloud Security solutions were at best point products with limited functionality and created a huge administrative overhead for customers. AccuKnox’s integrated CSPM/KSPM, CWPP with its Cloud Native, OpenSource Led, DevSecOps model is precisely what the industry needs. As clients modernize their legacy cloud solutions and rationalize their costs, AccuKnox will play a very important role for customers as they plan their Zero Trust Cloud Security solutions,” – Mel Shakir, Dreamit Ventures.

“AccuKnox offers unique and differentiated expertise in run-time Kubernetes Security for the growing Kubernetes community. Securing these assets and orchestrating stateless workloads continues to be a massive concern and a challenge, particularly in edge and IoT 5G-enabled environments. We are pleased to support AccuKnox as it expands its footprint and capitalizes on this huge opportunity,” says Jim Brisimitzis, Founder and General Partner, 5G Open Innovation Labs.

“It is an immense pleasure for us to support a company that has launched a category leading Security platform and an Enterprise platform in a capital efficient way. The energy grid of the future will be both highly distributed and interconnected, so securing IT and OT assets at the core infrastructure level will rely on technologies like AccuKnox KubeArmor. The lighthouse clients they have inked, the strategic partnerships they have forged and their ongoing strategic partnership with SRI positions AccuKnox very well for leadership in multiple categories.” – Lisa Lambert, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, National Grid and Founder & President, National Grid Partners.

“We are delighted that these prestigious investors are supporting us in our growth journey. We are committed to leveraging our strategic R&D partnership with SRI and leading Customers and Partners to deliver differentiated products in Zero Trust Cloud Security to the industry,” said Nat Natraj, co-founder, CEO, AccuKnox.

AccuKnox Zero Trust CNAPP is in GA (General Availability) now and is available through all channels: Direct Sales, Distributors, Resellers and MSSPs (Managed Security Service Providers) globally.

“Most organizations are trying to balance security tools and controls in a variety of dimensions: Public, Private Cloud, Multi-Cloud; modern workloads like Kubernetes; and traditional workloads like Virtual Machines. Furthermore, organizations are dealing with ‘security tool sprawl’. AccuKnox’s integrated, OpenSource first, DevSecOps-led approach is precisely what organizations need to address their current and emerging security needs,” Chase Cunningham, Renowned Cyber Security Analyst and Zero-Trust expert.

About AccuKnox

AccuKnox provides a Zero Trust Cloud Native Application Security (CNAPP) platform. AccuKnox is the core contributor to Kubernetes Run-time security solution, KubeArmor®, a very popular CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) project. AccuKnox was developed in strategic partnership with SRI and is anchored on seminal inventions in the areas of Container Security, Anomaly Detection, and Data Provenance. AccuKnox can be deployed in Public and Private Cloud environments. www.accuknox.com

Contact:
Nat Natraj, co-founder, CEO
[email protected]
@N_SiliconValley