BitSight Announces $40M in Series C Funding to Further Extend Leadership as Standard in Security Ratings Services Market

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BitSight, the standard in Security Ratings, today announced that it has closed $40 million in Series C financing, bringing BitSight's total cumulative funding to $95 million to date. Led by GGV Capital, BitSight's Series C round also includes participation from previous investors, including Flybridge Capital Partners, Globespan Capital Partners, Menlo Ventures, and Shaun McConnon, as well as the venture capital arms of three major telecommunications companies – Comcast Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures, and Singtel Innov8. GGV Capital's Glenn Solomon will join the BitSight Board of Directors. The new funding will be used to support expansion and partnerships in new geographic markets, make strategic acquisitions, and accelerate product innovation.

The BitSight Security Rating Platform generates objective, outside-in ratings on companies' security performance. Using evidence of security outcomes from networks around the world, BitSight applies sophisticated algorithms to produce daily security ratings ranging from 250 to 900, where higher ratings equate to lower risk. BitSight provides Security Ratings to more than 450 companies, including Lowe's, Ferrari, Hess, Mondelez and The Hartford, to name a few.

"The extremely positive feedback we received from CISOs, security professionals and other industry insiders regarding BitSight's market leading technology, growth, and customer adoption fueled our excitement to proactively lead this financing," said Glenn Solomon, Managing Partner, GGV Capital. "BitSight has created what Gartner is now recognizing as the Security Ratings Services market. As more awareness around this technology is created, and as BitSight continues to build out the infrastructure for a world class security ratings agency, they are poised for great success."   

"We saw the huge market opportunity back in 2013 when we first invested in BitSight," said Venky Ganesan, Managing Director, Menlo Ventures and Chair of the National Venture Capital Association Board of Directors. "Since that time, BitSight has further increased momentum, and this additional unsolicited, oversubscribed investment round will enable them to reinforce their leadership and market impact worldwide."

Key milestones achieved since closing Series B financing in June 2015:

• Doubled sales for the first half of 2016 over 2015
• Quadrupled customer count to more than 450 enterprises
• Grew employee count by 58 percent, with a workforce spanning North America, EMEA and APAC
• Launched BitSight Discover to identify cyber risk accumulation by automatically pinpointing and assessing third and fourth party connections
• Established global vendor risk management partnerships with Singtel and IHS Markit
• Appointed professor of management at MIT, Michael Cusumano, as the risk industry's first Security Ratings Ombudsman

"Our customers vote with their checkbooks, as do investors who see our future," said Shaun McConnon, BitSight CEO. "We have now raised $95 million over the past three years, and with $60 million in the bank and 450 customers, 60 of whom are Fortune 500's, BitSight's growth is accelerating. We intend to add an additional 100 people to our current staff over the next 15 months, with a strong focus on engineering and sales. We will increase our brand, double our sales, and solidify BitSight as the global standard in security rating services. We have the people, the products, and the cash to accomplish these goals."

About BitSight
BitSight is transforming how companies manage information security risk with objective, verifiable and actionable Security Ratings. Founded in 2011, the company built its Security Rating Platform to continuously analyze vast amounts of external data on security issues and behaviors in order to help organizations manage third party risk, underwrite cyber insurance policies, benchmark performance, conduct M&A due diligence and assess aggregate risk. Seven of the top 10 cyber insurers, 60 Fortune 500 companies, and 3 of the top 5 investment banks rely on BitSight to manage cyber risks. For more information, please visit www.bitsighttech.com, read our blog or follow @BitSight on Twitter.

About GGV Capital
GGV Capital is a venture capital firm founded in 2000 with the unique idea to have one team investing in both the U.S. and China.  With $3.8 billion under management across 8 funds, the GGV portfolio includes Airbnb, Alibaba, AlienVault, Ctrip, Didi Chuxing, Domo, Grab, HotelTonight, Houzz, Nimble Storage, Opendoor, Pactera, Pandora Media, Percolate, Slack, Square, Synack, Wish, Youku Tudou, YY, Zendesk, 51credit and more.  For more information: www.ggvc.com | Twitter: @GGVCapital | WeChat: GGVCapital

SOURCE BitSight Technologies

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