The Venture Codex

Participated · Series B · Jun 2015

Cryptzone provides dynamic, context-aware security solutions that use identity and context to secure access and prevent exposure of sensitive information. Its portfolio includes AppGate, a dynamic security gateway; Security Sheriff for classification, encryption and content protection for SharePoint, Office 365 and file shares; Simple Encryption Platform for email and removable storage; and Compliance Sheriff for content governance of public websites, intranets and extranets. Led by President and CEO Kurt A. Mueffelmann, the company targets prevention of cyber-attacks via privileged accounts and third-party users. Cryptzone closed a $15M Series B to support its growth. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its go-to-market strategy and expand globally. The announcement also noted a board appointment in conjunction with the financing.

Led · Series C · Mar 2015

Booker provides an end-to-end SaaS platform that helps service-focused SMBs manage scheduling, CRM, point-of-sale payment processing, marketing and loyalty programs, and analytics. The company offers vertical-specific configurations, originally serving spas and salons and later expanding into beauty, home improvement, and other professional services. Customers typically generate $250,000 to $1 million in revenue and pay roughly $100–$150 per month depending on configuration and features. Booker processes large transaction volumes — it processed more than $2 billion last year, is handling over 3 million bookings a month, and had more than $200 million transacted on the platform last month. Booker also provides marketing services that connect businesses with customers (taking a small fee) and enables instant booking across SMB websites, mobile, Facebook pages, and third-party sites. With the new funding Booker plans to expand into additional verticals and integrate with more marketing channels to find customers on sites like Yelp. Booker offers a unified cloud platform that combines scheduling, point-of-sale, CRM, employee management, marketing and loyalty programs, and reporting to help small-to-medium and multi-location service businesses run operations and automate marketing. The product is used by over 60,000 service professionals across verticals including health, wellness, beauty, home improvement, and professional services. Booker processes more than one million appointments each month across 73 countries and supports 11 languages. In 2012 the company reported its fourth consecutive year of triple-digit revenue growth and said it doubled annual transaction volume to nearly $1 billion. Booker began as the SpaBooker division within SpaFinder (it was formerly known as GramercyOne) and was later spun out as its own company. The platform’s appeal centers on capturing the entire purchase cycle and customer history from promotion to sale. GramercyOne, launched in 2010, provides the Booker Platform, a suite of cloud-based tools for business management, marketing and online booking. The Booker Platform enables customer acquisition through social commerce, group buying, mobile and local advertising, and social booking solutions. The company serves over 2,500 businesses across 56 countries and supports eight languages. Its customers range from small service businesses such as spas, fitness centers and beauty salons to large organizations including Hilton Worldwide. GramercyOne says its platform processes over 700,000 transactions averaging $1 million in value every day. The company was spun out from SpaFinder after its SpaBooker division’s scheduling functionality gained traction beyond the spa industry.

Led · Series C · Sep 2013

Brainspace builds an unstructured data analysis discovery platform, Brainspace Discovery™ 5, that uses machine learning to surface difficult-to-find insights. The company focuses on accelerating human learning by processing large volumes of information for investigative workflows. Enterprises use its platform for early case assessment, investigative analytics for e-discovery, internal investigations, and document classification. Customers include Fortune 500 companies, consulting firms, legal service providers, and government agencies. Led by CEO Dave Copps, Brainspace positions its technology for use in digital investigations and intelligence-supporting operations. The company recently entered a strategic partnership tied to accelerating its emergence in analytics for digital investigations. PureDiscovery, led by CEO Dave Copps, offers a technology platform that converts an organization’s documents into a working collective intelligence. The company has built solutions for legal, human capital management, homeland security/defense and intellectual property markets. PureDiscovery intends to use its recent funding to enhance its legal offering and to target additional vertical markets. The company plans continued development of its core technology alongside expanded sales and marketing efforts. PureDiscovery raised $10M in a Series C financing as of September 2013.

Led · Equity · Jul 2013

Catbird builds security software for the virtualized data center, managing the hypervisor and working primarily on VMware's virtualization platform. Its approach bakes security into provisioning and ongoing management rather than relying on traditional perimeter appliances. The company aims to address the shift from mechanical servers to software-defined, programmable infrastructure by providing fine-grain control over virtual assets. Catbird faces competition from established networking and security vendors such as Cisco, Checkpoint, and Tipping Point. The market for software-focused data center management is still emerging and somewhat abstract, which presents a go-to-market challenge for the company. Financially, Catbird recently received investment from Medina Capital, indicating outside VC backing as it develops its product. Catbird, formed in 2007, provides software that is injected into VMware’s virtualization technology to secure virtual machines and virtual switches. Its software connects to VMware’s APIs, integrates with VMware security products and communicates with physical switches, allowing visibility inside virtual machines. The company is positioning itself as a new-generation vendor disrupting traditional security providers such as Checkpoint, Cisco and Tipping Point as data centers virtualize. It is currently in beta for a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) offering, with an initial focus on VMware and private data center deployments rather than the public cloud. Catbird argues virtualized infrastructures change how security must be implemented and aims to provide software-defined security tailored to those environments. Market adoption is nascent and customers must decide what to virtualize versus what to leave to hardware, which the article says will require enterprise architects to balance security and innovation.

Participated · Series C · Jul 2013

Prolexic Technologies provides cloud-based DDoS mitigation and scrubbing services that absorb complex attacks and restore mission-critical internet-facing infrastructure within minutes. Founded in 2003 and led by CEO Scott Hammack, the company serves large banks and companies in e-commerce, SaaS, payment processing, travel/hospitality, gaming and other at-risk industries. It currently operates four scrubbing centers in London, Hong Kong, San Jose and Ashburn, Va. The company recently closed a $30M Series C funding round to expand its worldwide scrubbing center presence and increase the capacity of its platform beyond 1 Tbps. Prolexic also plans to use the proceeds to develop new cloud-based security services. The business emphasizes rapid mitigation for global enterprises and government clients. Prolexic Technologies provides cloud-based Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation services and operates scrubbing centers in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The company says it can absorb the largest and most complex attacks and serves clients across banking, e-commerce, SaaS, payment processing, travel/hospitality and gaming. In 2011 Prolexic completed two financings led by Kennet Partners totaling US$15.9 million; the company was profitable last year and reported more than 55% growth in the most recent quarter. The new funding is intended to support staff, network and service augmentation and to accelerate growth. Prolexic plans to bring forward strategic initiatives and launch new cloud security services as part of its next stage of expansion. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Hollywood, Florida. Prolexic provides Cloud-based DDoS detection and mitigation services using proprietary mitigation and control software, global scrubbing centers, high-speed bandwidth, advanced routing, and patent-pending filtering techniques. Its service combines software, dedicated hardware, necessary bandwidth, and a global security operations team to protect customers regardless of an attack’s size or complexity. Prolexic serves the Federal Government and Global 2000 customers and says demand for its offerings has increased exponentially amid a surge in cyber attacks. The company emphasizes its unique filtering, peering, and routing capabilities as core differentiators. Management and investors cite growing adoption of cloud computing and rising attack sophistication as drivers of future demand. Prolexic completed a $13.9 million financing to support continued growth.