Stellar Cyber raises $13.2M, rebrands from Aella Data and expands board and executive team

Validating its pioneering position in the rapidly-evolving cybersecurity industry, security analytics provider Stellar Cyber announced that it has closed $13.2 million in Series A funding.

This investment follows a period of rapid customer growth for the company as well as the crossing of major milestones including a corporate name change from Aella Data and an expansion of its board and executive team.

In an era where enterprises are grappling with a higher volume of cyberattacks, Stellar Cyber’s unified security analytics platform Starlight – a tool for security operations centers (SOC) and security professionals – is fast emerging as the timely and preferred solution.

This latest funding round is led by Valley Capital Partners, an early stage venture capital firm focused on security, enterprise infrastructure and AI, joined by existing investor Northern Light Venture Capital, as well as new strategic investor Digital Hearts and other investors. Stellar Cyber will use the funds to accelerate its go-to-market expansion and growth across all departments including sales, marketing, engineering, and product management.

Stellar Cyber rebrands from Aella Data

Additionally, Stellar Cyber rebrands from Aella Data. The company, which formally launched at the RSA Conference last year as Aella Data, has established itself as a pioneer in data-driven unified security analytics platforms. It introduced the market’s first data- and AI-driven platform security solution Starlight, that provides pervasive data collection, breach detection, investigation and response (CDIR).

The name change is significant for the company as its mission is to bring to light the darkness of network and computing environments by providing organizations better security visibility in an age of heightened cybersecurity threats and infrastructure complexities.

The company has deep roots in the security industry, with several founding and early team members and investors hailing from Netscreen Technologies, acquired by Juniper Networks for $4 billion. Team members have also worked at and helped pioneer Fortinet, Barracuda, Comodo, Aerohive and more.

New board member and executive

Helping Stellar Cyber in its next stage of growth are the additions of Steve O’Hara, founder and managing partner of Valley Capital Partners, as board member, and David Barton as Chief Security Officer.

• Steve O’Hara, a Silicon Valley veteran and entrepreneur, founded Valley Capital Partners in 2013. Steve was the original seed investor in Netscreen Technologies. He has also been the principal founder of three venture-backed companies – Nebula, OnFiber Communications, and CoreLogic – and a board member and investor in several others.
• David Barton is a security industry veteran with more than 20 years’ experience across a variety of sectors including telecommunications, healthcare, software development, finance, and government. Previously he was Chief Information Security Officer at Forcepoint and before that Head of Information Security at Hireright. Barton was also Director of Information Security at AT&T/Cingular for eight years.

“As the volume and pace of applications have skyrocketed, the number of vulnerabilities has exploded,” said Steve O’Hara, managing partner of Valley Capital Partners. “Stellar Cyber’s security analytics solution addresses a major pain point for the CISOs of modern enterprises: providing better security visibility in an age of heightened cybersecurity threats. It’s exciting to be an investor and board member in a company that is helping security teams in pioneering and meaningful ways.”

According to Changming Liu, Stellar Cyber’s CEO, “Our series A funding combined with our strong customer traction affirms the significance of our flagship product, Starlight. We have put into the hands of our customers and partners a powerful and comprehensive SOC solution that will protect them from the fates of Equifax and Marriott Hotels. It’s also an honor to work alongside industry veterans and to welcome on board new investors who believe in our vision for a safer world.”