Kenna raises $15M to help companies find hidden security risks

Fixing every security vulnerability in a large enterprise with thousands or tens of thousands of endpoints is practically impossible. San Francisco’s Kenna Security Inc. aims to help address that problem.

The startup, which works with dozens of Fortune 500 companies including PepsiCo Inc. and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., secured a $15 million funding round this morning to fuel its momentum.

The cash infusion follows two years of 300 percent increases in bookings for its vulnerability assessment platform. What sets the software apart, according to the startup’s website, is a homegrown algorithm that can automatically map out all the security issues in a corporate network. The results are then correlated with hacker activity data from eight threat intelligence feeds to identify the most pressing problems.

Kenna displays its findings in a graphical dashboard that enables security professionals to find and the most urgent problems first. Even if a company doesn’t have the manpower to plug every single exploit discovered by the platform, addressing the most significant threats on its network can still significantly lower the risk of hacking. It’s the same concept that IBM Corp. implemented in the vulnerability detection solution it launched with Carbon Black Inc. two months ago.

From a competitive standpoint, Kenna can be more closely compared with SecurityScorecard Inc.’s risk grading service. Both platforms use a numerical scoring system to help security professionals easily understand their organizations’ risk levels. Today’s funding may help Kenna compete with its Google-backed rival and other vulnerability assessment providers.

The round was led by PeakSpan Capital, a relatively new growth-stage investment firm that recently closed its first $150 million fund. It was joined by Israeli equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd, U.S. Venture Partners, Costanoa Venture Capital and Hyde Park Angels.

Image courtesy of  Kenna