Cymulate Raises $70M For Channel Growth, Potential Acquisitions

CEO says his firm needs to ‘build our channel program’ if it’s going to hit $100 million in sales in two years.

Eyal Wachsman

Cymulate, a provider of automated continuous security testing, has raised another $70 million in funding as it eyes possible acquisitions and seeks to significantly boost its channel sales over the next few years.

The new Series D funding round, led by repeat investor One Peak, brings to $141 million that the New York and Tel Aviv, Israel-based Cymulate has raised since its founding in 2016.

Eyal Wachsman, chief executive officer and co-founder of Cymulate, told CRN his firm plans to use the money to boost growth and marketing, as well as invest in new technologies.

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In addition, Wachsman said Cymulate may use some of the funds to acquire other smaller firms whose technologies complement Cymulate’s cloud-based solution that regularly tests and assesses a firm’s cybersecurity posture.

He declined to elaborate on future M&A activity, but said any takeover would be “strategic” in nature for Cymulate.

As for the channel, he said his goal is make the 250-employee Cymulate a $100 million company within two years – and that can only be done via stronger channel sales.

“We need to build our channel program,” he said.

Currently, about 30 percent of the firm’s revenue are via the channel, but Wachsman said he expects that number to rise to about 50 percent by next year.

Though he wouldn’t disclose current revenue, Wachsman said Cymulate’s sales have recently doubled year over year.

Cymulate’s target customers are mid-market and enterprise level firms, he said.

In a press release, David Klein, managing partner at One Peak, said his firm was “thrilled” to lead the latest round of funding for Cymulate.

“Cyber posture management and continuous security validation have dramatically increased in popularity in response to the onslaught of ransomware and cyber warfare for businesses across all size ranges,” Klein said in a statement. “Cymulate is the clear leader in the sector, and we look forward to continuing to support the company in further accelerating its already strong growth trajectory.”

Other investors in the Series D round included Susquehanna Growth Equity, Vertex Ventures Israel, Vertex Growth, and Dell Technologies Capital.

Though the latest round doubled the amount of venture capital raised by Cymulate over the past six years, Wachsman told CRN it’s getting harder – and more expensive – for young firms to line up funding.
In general, venture capital firms have been pulling back a bit amid uncertain economic times, with deal valuations falling and investors putting pressure on startups to conserve existing cash.

Wachsman said Cymulate has definitely felt the shift in investor sentiment. “It’s not easy to raise funds,” he said.

Still, Cymulate has a good product and track record of growth, so it ultimately had no major problems raising new funds, he said. He also noted the demand for good security products remains strong in general.

“I’m very proud of our team,” he said.

According to the company’s press release, Cymulate’s Extended Security Posture Management platform incorporates four features tied together with analytics to provide actionable security posture insights: attack surface management, continuous automated red teaming, breach and attack simulation, and advanced purple teaming.