Israeli cybersecurity startup nabs $41m in funding led by Daniel Loeb’s Third Point
Grip Security has built a security platform to help businesses manage identity risks and threats across their web applications and services
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel.
Israel cybersecurity startup Grip Security said on Tuesday that it has secured $41 million in funding, to bolster investment into research and development and expand to new geographic regions to meet the growing demand by businesses for the protection of sensitive data.
The Series B financing round was led by US-headquartered Third Point Ventures, the venture capital arm of asset manager Third Point LLC run by billionaire investor Daniel Loeb. Israeli-American venture capital firm YL Ventures; Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of US semiconductor giant Intel Corp, and US-based venture firm The Syndicate Group also participated in the funding round. To date, the startup has raised a total of $66 million.
Founded in 2021 by CEO Lior Yaari, CTO Idan Fast, and R&D VP Alon Shenkler, Grip has built a security control plane platform tailored to help businesses protect their web-based applications and services by managing, detecting and mitigating identity risks regardless of device type or location.
More and more enterprises and corporations rely on the use of a multitude of third-party apps to do business, including OpenAI and other generative AI, which in turn makes them more susceptible to becoming a target that can be exploited by bad actors. The compromise of one identity, system or app can be used to gain unauthorized access to other systems, apps or resources, and this increases a company’s exposure to security risks.
“Digital transformation has changed IT, and we now live in an era where data is stored everywhere and accessed from any corner of the globe, made possible by the accelerating adoption of SaaS applications,” Yaari commented. “This has propelled our growth during these challenging economic times because we are focusing on a critical problem that needs to be addressed urgently.”
“With nearly 75,000, and growing, SaaS apps available, the need for effective controls to manage identity sprawl has never been more critical,” he added.
The newly raised funds will be infused to boost the startup’s growth strategy by investing into research and development operations, and hiring more staff in both Israel and the US. Additionally, the startup seeks to expand into untapped geographic regions.
Over the past year, Grip has seen its bookings and contracts grow by over 400 percent, with multiple Fortune 500 companies using its cybersecurity platform, the startup said. To meet the strong market demand, the startup’s workforce almost tripled.
“We are investing in the company because we see a tremendous need for their solution, and they have a superior product, which is proven by their accelerating market traction in this challenging market,” said Sapir Harosh, partner and manager of Third Point Ventures’ Tel Aviv office. “The company has important competitive contracts with some of the most demanding enterprises and that is a compelling demonstration of why we think Grip will be a sustainable leader in this growing segment.”
Harosh joined Third Point Ventures from Israeli venture capital firm Pitango last year, to head its newly opened Tel Aviv office.
