Cequence Security raises $60M to enhance its API security solutions

Cequence Security announced it has closed $60 million in Series C funding led by new investor Menlo Ventures. Additional participation comes from new investors ICON Ventures, Telstra Ventures and HarbourVest Partners.

Existing investors Shasta Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital and T-Mobile Ventures also participated in this funding round. The latest round of funding brings total investment in the company to $100 million.

This new financing comes on the heels of record growth for Cequence, driven by advancements in business applications in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Across multiple industries, companies have accelerated their digital transformation projects and deployed a growing number of new APIs, but in the process, they have overlooked traditional security reviews and governance best practices.

Cequence’s API security solution is the most comprehensive platform on the market and its success in protecting 2 billion API transactions per day is unmatched by competitors. Cequence works tirelessly to help organizations protect their APIs and their businesses with API inventory tracking, risk assessment and threat prevention—all performed natively and at runtime.

This hard work has proven fruitful, as Cequence services over 85 brands worldwide, including several Fortune 500 and 100 companies in markets ranging from banking and beauty, to retail and consumer mobile apps.

VP Analyst at Gartner, Mark O’Neill and Jeremy D’Hoinne, emphasizes in 2021 Gartner “Hype Cycle for Application Security, 2021” report.

“Many organizations lack visibility of their APIs, as many APIs are used as part of web or mobile applications and not published directly. This means that a key requirement of API threat protection is API discovery, since, as every security professional knows, you can’t secure what you don’t know.”

“As an active cybersecurity investor, I’ve looked at countless API security vendors, but I’m placing my bets on Cequence—as is the market. Among their impressive roster of customers, you’ll find several household names and Fortune 500 organizations, which speaks to their ability to meet the API protection demands of the largest and most demanding enterprise businesses,” said Venky Ganesan, partner at Menlo Ventures. “Part of the appeal is superior product architecture. Cequence can stand alone: It is the only solution that provides visibility and inline response mitigation to attacks on APIs. It’s the only solution out there that doesn’t need to signal other products for mitigation.”

The funding will support new enhancements to Cequence’s API security solutions and the expansion of its product offerings. It will also help the company break into new regions in the United States and Europe, as well as new markets in Asia and Australia.

In turn, Cequence will be looking to aggressively hire and grow its team within these geographies. As part of the transaction, Venky Ganesan of Menlo Ventures will also join the company’s board.

“From social networks to online shopping and financial services, so many aspects of our lives and digital experiences are tied to APIs. That’s why it’s critical to be able to manage your entire API inventory to address security gaps and protect against rising API threats that may lead to fraud and data loss,” said Larry Link, CEO of Cequence Security. “We’re thrilled that our new and existing investors recognize this growing market need and are eager to support our mission to protect organizations—and users—in this digital-first world.”