Participated · Seed · Jul 2019

StackHawk builds a shift-left API and application security testing platform that embeds security testing into software delivery so developers can find and fix vulnerabilities before production. The platform gives security teams visibility into the security posture of applications and APIs and helps engineers remediate issues during development. StackHawk plans to expedite shipping products and features to support teams adopting AI-driven development, with focus on data-sensitive industries such as healthcare and fintech. The company cites industry trends—faster deployments driven by AI and heavy API traffic—to justify demand and was named outstanding API security platform by the Global Infosec Awards at RSA 2025. StackHawk is led by CEO and co-founder Joni Klippert and is backed by venture investors including Sapphire and Castanoa/Costanoa Ventures. With the new funding the company has raised $47.3 million in total to date. StackHawk provides a developer-first platform that enables engineers to find and fix application security bugs at any stage of software development. The company's product integrates application and API security testing into software delivery workflows. StackHawk serves customers across FinTech, HealthTech, cloud analytics and AI platforms. Led by CEO Joni Klippert, the company plans to invest its new funding in product development to maintain its position in developer-first application and API security testing. The company raised a $20.7M Series B, bringing total capital raised to $35.3M. StackHawk is headquartered in Denver, CO. StackHawk is an application security testing platform that lets DevOps teams instrument automated dynamic application security testing (DAST) in the CI/CD pipeline. Led by founder and CEO Joni Klippert, the platform enables engineering teams to run security tests with every pull request so vulnerabilities are caught well before production. The company emphasizes developer-friendly features to help application security scale across engineering organizations and create efficiencies in fixing security bugs. StackHawk's platform is built upon and continues to support ZAP, an open-source project. The company plans to use the funds to continue product development, invest in go-to-market teams, and continue supporting ZAP. StackHawk is based in Denver, CO and raised $10M in a Series A round. StackHawk provides a service that uses the open-source OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) as its underlying scanning technology and layers on security test automation, developer-tool integrations, and features for modern development paradigms. The company focuses on bringing application security into developers' workflows and CI/CD pipelines rather than building tools solely for external enterprise security teams. StackHawk recently hired Simon Bennetts, the founder of the ZAP project, to continue developing the open-source scanner while aligning the project with StackHawk’s developer-focused mission. The hire signals increased investment in the ZAP open-source community alongside continued product development. Financially, the Denver-based startup has raised nearly $5 million in financing to date. Investors named in prior financings include Flybridge, Costanoa Ventures, Matchstick Ventures and Foundry Group. StackHawk is a Denver, CO-based SaaS company building security software for DevOps teams. Its platform enables engineers to find and remediate security problems in development and production through continuous vulnerability scanning, documentation and remediation. The product is aimed at embedding security into engineering workflows to surface and track vulnerabilities. The company plans to use new funding to expand its engineering team and accelerate product development. Current job openings include full-stack engineers, web developers, and UI/UX leadership. Leadership includes CEO Joni Klippert, CSO Scott Gerlach, and COO Ryan Severns.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2017

Exactuals offers PaymentHub, a SaaS product that automates and manages complex payments and royalties for thousands of payees in the film/TV, music and marketplace sectors. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Mike Hurst and is based in Los Angeles. In 2017 the company signed a long-term contract enabling SAG-AFTRA to offer direct deposit of residual payments to its 160,000 members. Exactuals also formed an alliance with SAG-AFTRA and City National aimed at saving an estimated 15 million sheets of paper annually, eliminating postage fees, and delivering faster, more secure payments and improved reporting. The company raised funding following that contract, positioning it to scale operations and partner integrations. The reported fundraise provides capital to expand PaymentHub’s adoption across entertainment and marketplace customers.