Xage, a zero trust cybersecurity company, has raised $20M in funding, bringing the total amount to $80M. Existing investors, including Piva Capital, March Capital, SCF Partners, Overture Climate Fund, Valor Equity Partners, and Chevron Technology Ventures, participated in the round, along with new investor Science Applications International Corporation. Xage and SAIC also announced a strategic collaboration to deliver zero trust security solutions to critical infrastructure and distributed operations. The funding will be used for R&D investments and to expand the company's go-to-market operations. Xage provides solutions and services to secure, manage, and transform digital operations across OT, IT, and cloud. The company serves enterprises in various sectors and has expanded its presence in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions.
Guardz, a cybersecurity company, has raised $18 million in a Series A funding round led by Glilot+. The company previously raised $10 million in seed funding, bringing its total funding to $28 million. Guardz provides holistic cybersecurity solutions for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) serving small businesses. The funds will be used to fuel commercial growth, accelerate product development, expand sales and marketing, and enhance customer success operations. Small businesses are increasingly targeted by cybersecurity attacks, and Guardz aims to empower MSPs to protect them more efficiently. The platform enables MSPs to manage multiple small business customers' cybersecurity posture from a single platform. The AI-powered solution offers automated threat detection and remediation across all attack vectors and allows MSPs to offer cyber insurance to their clients. The funding round was led by Glilot+ and included participation from existing investors Hanaco Ventures, iAngels, and GKFF Ventures, as well as new investor ClearSky.
Bugcrowd, a cybersecurity company, has secured $102 million in a strategic growth funding round led by General Catalyst. The investment will be used to scale Bugcrowd's AI-led crowdsourced security platform globally. The company plans to develop its platform further, expand its global reach, and strengthen its position in the cybersecurity market. Bugcrowd aims to ramp up growth in EMEA, APAC, and the US, fuel ongoing innovation, and explore strategic M&A opportunities. Mark Crane and Paul Sagan from General Catalyst will join Bugcrowd's Board of Directors, with Sagan assuming the role of Board Chair. Jeff Simon from T-Mobile and Prabhath Karanth from Navan join Bugcrowd's advisory board alongside David Fairman from Netskope.
PAXAFE, an AI-based cold chain logistics company, has closed a $9 million Series A funding round led by Framework Venture Partners. The funding brings the total raised to $14 million and will be used to meet customer demand, fuel product innovation, and expand global operations. PAXAFE's SaaS platform, CONTXT, helps manage temperature-sensitive products in transit and storage for industries such as pharmaceuticals and production. The global cold chain sector, valued at over $281 billion in 2022, is expected to reach $327 billion by 2029. PAXAFE's investors include M12, Rosecliff Ventures, Elevate Ventures, AngelList Quant Fund, Gaingels, Mana Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, and Venture53.
In February, several funding deals and acquisitions took place in the cloud, data, cybersecurity, and AI space. One of the biggest funding rounds was led by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which invested $1 billion in Moonshot AI, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup. Cohesity and Veritas announced their definitive agreement to combine their data protection businesses, creating a new leader in data security and management worth $7 billion. Other notable funding rounds include Aim Security raising $10 million, IONIX raising $15 million, and Bugcrowd securing $102 million. Additionally, Databricks acquired Einblick, AHEAD acquired CDI, and ZeroFox Holdings was acquired by Haveli Investments for $350 million.
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