The leading API security company, Salt Security, announced today (Feb 10) they raised $140 million in Series D funding, led by CapitalG (Alphabet’s independent growth fund) with participation from all existing investors.
The latest investment brings the valuation of Salt Security to $1.4 billion, bolstering its leadership position in the API security market with the most funding, highest valuation, most customers, and deepest penetration among Fortune and Global 500 enterprises.
Salt Security will use the additional capital to expand R&D investment, fuel sales & marketing, and rapidly grow its international operations to address the growing number of cyber threats targeting APIs.
Roey Eliyahu, CEO, and co-founder of the company was on Forbes Israel’s 30 Under 30 list two years ago. His development of an artificial intelligence system that detects API attacks, is the idea behind the company.
“APIs provide the foundation for innovation in today’s economy. Our vision for Salt Security has always been to make it safer and easier for companies to innovate by securing APIs in the face of a growing and dynamic attack surface,” said Eliyahu, “We are honored to have CapitalG as our strategic partner as we achieve this vision at a global scale and widen our lead in this important industry.”
Roey served in the army’s cyber unit, and was drawn to entrepreneurship from an early age, or as he puts it: “Even when I didn’t know it was called entrepreneurship.” He started working on programming at the age of 10, in a high school in Yavne where he won an autonomous robot-building competition, and continued to make an impact after the army when he set up a prep school for cyber studies for those who wish to enlist in the IDF’s elite cyber units.
The investment by CapitalG, less than eight months after Salt Security raised its $70 million Series C round, comes as the demand for API security surges, with businesses needing to protect the APIs driving their digital transformation, application mobilization, and other IT modernization initiatives. This round brings the company’s total funding to $271 million, with $210 million raised in the last 12 months.
