U.S. Venture Partners leads the round, CrowdStrike co-founder participating
ORLANDO, Fla. and TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Israeli cybersecurity startup Zero Networks, a leading provider of zero trust identity and network security solutions, raised $20 million in Series B funding following a five-fold increase in its revenue, bringing its total raised capital to $45 million.
U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) led the round, with notable strategic investor Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer of CrowdStrike, also participating. Existing investors Venrock, F2 Venture Capital, and Pico Venture Partners, also joined the round. The funds will be utilized to recruit development, marketing, and sales personnel, supporting Zero Networks’ hypergrowth.
Zero Networks was founded in 2019, and is led by Benny Lakunishok, the CEO, and Amir Frankel, the CTO. The company is tackling one of the most complex problems in cybersecurity – how to prevent attackers from moving laterally within the organizational network to exfiltrate data or launch ransomware attacks.
Existing segmentation solutions that address this problem are notoriously complex, labor intensive, and often do not provide comprehensive protection. In contrast, Zero Networks developed a fully automated SaaS platform that learns all network traffic and creates granular security policies that restrict user and machine access to only strictly necessary assets. Accessing sensitive protocols that are often used by attackers to move laterally is enabled only after users undergo multi-factor authentication.
In addition, Zero Networks enables organizations to securely connect remote employees and third parties to their network with zero trust principles and maximum network performance.
Zero Networks has a diverse roster of prominent customers in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, including global commercial and investment banks, major US retailers, large manufacturing corporations, a global container shipping company, hospitals, law offices, construction, telecom, and public sector institutions.
Benny Lakunishok, CEO of Zero Networks, commented on the funding round, stating, “We have significantly exceeded our own growth expectations, and are thrilled to have received this investment from USVP that will allow us to scale our team earlier. It is a testament to our team’s hard work and exceptional commitment to our customers and partners. We are honored to have such a distinguished list of security leaders join our journey.”
“There are only two really huge markets in cybersecurity,” said Dmitri Alperovitch, who participated in the funding round. “As co-founder of CrowdStrike, I am privileged to have played a part in disrupting one of them – Endpoint Security. Now, I’m excited to help Zero Networks revolutionize the other huge market that is ripe for disruption – Network Security.”
“USVP has a proven track record of investing in the most successful cybersecurity startups in Israel, and we are thrilled that Zero Networks is the latest addition to our portfolio,” said Dafina Toncheva, General Partner at USVP. “We see immense potential in the company’s approach to network security – their impressive growth this year and the satisfaction of their customers underscore the impact they are making in the cybersecurity landscape.”
