There was a time when developers could reasonably expect to quickly “find and fix” security issues in their web apps. But with the rise of cloud adoption, developers are creating new web applications faster while grappling new challenges in cybersecurity. Simply put, today’s agile development processes and complex technology architectures mean that addressing security issues and vulnerabilities can’t be done fast enough.
IMMUNIO, a Montreal-based cybersecurity startup, is hoping to change the way companies think about their security processes. The company develops a runtime application software protection (RASP), which can flag vulnerabilities within the app and immediately block attacks in real time, allowing both developers and IT operations teams to understand where the vulnerability was, how it was blocked and what the steps are to fix it. This morning, IMMUNIO raised a $5 million Series A in a round led by White Star Capital, a transatlantic venture fund operating between London, New York, and Montreal, and previous seed round investors.
This round brings IMMUNIO’s total funding to date to $8.3 million. IMMUNIO says that its RASP offering provides the same vulnerability identification benefits as static and dynamic scanners on one hand, and the protection features of web application firewalls (WAF) on the other, while remaining simpler to deploy and operate.
“We are bringing to market a solution that is redefining how we think about web application security and have already seen significant traction. This round of investment, along with strong additions to the management team, gives us the resources to accelerate our growth rapidly to meet the ongoing needs of today’s cloud environment,” said Zaid Al Hamami, CEO and co-founder of IMMUNIO. “Cloud has brought such incredible advancements in the speed at which we build applications, and with hundreds of millions of applications on the web today, a huge portion are vulnerable. RASP allows for real-time protection while uniting the development and IT operation teams in their efforts to ensure applications are running smoothly and securely.”
At the same time, the company announced new additions to their management team, including Goran Begic as vice president of Product and Richard April as chief marketing officer. Begic previously led product management at Veracode, while April boasts 20 years of experience at startups, early stage, and growth companies in the cloud, mobile, security, and SaaS/software industries.