Autonomous SOC platform JASK has closed a $25 million Series B funding round, led by Kleiner Perkins and joined by existing investors including Battery Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, TenEleven Ventures and Vertical Venture Partners.
The round brings total disclosed investment in the company since its foundation in 2015 to $39 million, following a Series A round last year.
“Over the past 20 years, the challenge of sifting through the deluge of alerts has been like finding the needle in a haystack,” said Greg Martin, CEO and co-founder of JASK. “SOC teams now deal with a stack of needles and need to find the sharpest one. Technology can no longer hinder them, but rather support their workflows and improve their efficiency. Our Series B funding and partnership with Ted and Kleiner Perkins will help us accelerate our mission to deliver this technology.”
JASK’s platform aims to combat ‘alert fatigue’ by automating much of the work of a tier one security analyst. It uses AI and machine learning to correlate and analyse data, and notifies users on events or activities that it believes should be investigated.
The challenge of sifting through the deluge of alerts has been like finding the needle in a haystack. SOC teams now deal with a stack of needles and need to find the sharpest one.
– Greg Martin, CEO and co-founder, JASK
“With one of the most experienced teams in security operations, JASK understood that the biggest challenge to cybersecurity is human talent. There are not enough people skilled in attacker methods to quickly discern a real threat from a low-risk compromise,” said Ted Schlein, General Partner at Kleiner Perkins, who has joined JASK’s board of directors as part of the investment.
Schlein went on to say: “Through advanced AI and machine learning, JASK frees security analysts from onerous data review to focus on investigating and responding to the most critical threats, improving efficiency and reducing organizational risk exposure.”
Schlein will no doubt be a valuable addition to the board, having previously invested in highly successful cybersecurity startups such as Mandiant, LifeLock, CarbonBlack and Arcsight.
The biggest challenge to cybersecurity is human talent.
– Ted Schlein, General Partner, Kleiner Perkins
JASK’s leadership includes alumni from several of these, along with other organisations, including Cylance, Netflix, Cloudera and the U.S. counter intelligence community. Co-founders Greg Martin and Damian Miller previously led Arcsight’s security operations practice.
According to JASK, the company will use the investment to continue developing its platform, increase hiring in all departments and expand global sales channels.
Particular areas of focus are likely to be new visualisation tools, significant expansion of its second headquarters in Austin, Texas, and in all likelihood, a new marketing strategy led by recently-appointed Chief Marketing Officer Greg Fitzgerald, whose previous roles include CMO at Cylance and SVP of marketing at Fortinet and Sourcefire (acquired by Cisco).
