Cybersecurity automation firm Torq lands $42M in expanded Series B
Summary
Torq, a self-described hyperautomation cybersecurity startup, today announced that it raised $42 million in an extension to its Series B funding round from investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, GGV Capital, Insight Partners, Greenfield Partners and Evolution Equity Partners.Bringing the companys total raised to $120 million, the new cash will be put toward expanding Torqs platform, including with AI capabilities; international growth; and increasing Torqs sales channel presence, co-founder and CEO Ofer Smadari says.Making enterprise security an enabler rather than a blocker for digital innovation is the single biggest challenge facing everyone in the industry, Smadari told TechCrunch in an email interview. Smadari previously co-launched Luminate, a zero trust platform acquired by Symantec in 2019, and spent several years in executive roles at cybersecurity startups Adallom and FireLayers. Recently, both Google and Microsoft launched GenAI tools aimed at summarizing and making sense of threat intelligence, while startups like Nexusflow are building AI-powered conversational interfaces for security tools.So what sets Torq apart? Today, Torq has around 100 enterprise customers, including big-name brands like Blackstone, Chipotle, Rivian, Lemonade and Fiverr.Torqs expansion is all the more impressive considering the rather depressing state of cybersecurity funding. Weve exercised tight control over our investments, and very close alignment of these with income sources has allowed us to avoid the traditional pitfall many other companies have fallen into overgrowth during times of hype.It probably helps that interest for security automation remains high.Per a 2023 poll from security analytics firm Devo, 80% of security leaders predict an increase in cybersecurity automation in the coming year citing the potential for enhanced incident analysis, faster threat detection and response and more thorough, wider-scope analyses of apps and data sources.Visibility of where the organization is at any given moment in its transformation from old school-, manual operations-centric approaches to the modern, engineering-centric hyperautomation as well as advisory and guidance on setting the proper targets and KPIs for the journey is where Torq meets the C-suite-level managers in the organization, Smadari said.