Australia's Square Peg in $17m round for UpGuard
Australian VC firm Square Peg Capital has contributed to a $17 million Series B round for UpGuard, a Sydney-founded cybersecurity start-up now headquartered in the US.
Other contributors to the round included Australia's largest general insurance company IAG as well as US early-stage investor Pelion Venture Partners. Previous backers have included Valar Ventures, a vehicle run by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Starfish Ventures, August Capital and Australian incubator Startmate.
According to a statement, the capital will be used to boost market penetration of the company's flagship product, known as CSTAR, while exploring new opportunities in the insurance industry. CSTAR offers companies services in the assessment of IT security breaches, software vulnerabilities, client risk and compliance profiles.
"UpGuard's ability to assess both external and internal risk factors is a huge step forward in understanding the complete security posture of a business," said Chris Cooper, a partner at Pelion. "UpGuard's CSTAR has both the technical rigor and simplicity to bring all executives together on the journey toward resilience. By automating data collection and rolling it up into a single credit score for IT, UpGuard has provided a valuable tool for businesses serious about their digital future."
Founded as ScriptRock in 2012, UpGuard aims to become the cyber risk benchmark for companies, insurance providers and consumers. It claims to be growing revenue at a rate of more than 400% year-on-year. The company raised an $8.7 million Series A round led by Vivek Mehra, general partner at August. Valar led a $1.2 million seed round in 2012.
Square Peg makes technology investments between A$20-40 million ($15.3-30.6 million) across Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and Israel. It launched a A$200 million fund last year with backing from superannuation funds, Australian investor James Packer and other high-net-worth individuals.
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