Cyber insurance firm Resilience raises $80M to aid battle against ransomware | VentureBeat

Hear from CIOs, CTOs, and other C-level and senior execs on data and AI strategies at the Future of Work Summit this January 12, 2022. Learn more

Resilience, a cyber insurance firm that also aims to help shore up policyholder defenses against ransomware, today announced raising an $80 million series C round to fund its expansion with midmarket customers.

The San Francisco-based firm said it stands out in the cyber insurance field with a model it calls “insure plus secure.” Resilience brings a focus on helping companies to defend against ransomware in addition to recovering from attacks.

Cyber insurance covers liabilities in the event of a cyberattack, which can include paying ransomware claims around incident investigations, losses from business interruption, and—controversially—ransom payments.

While still a relatively nascent market, cyber insurance has grown rapidly in recent years amid the spread of costly attacks such as ransomware. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that 47% of insurance clients chose cyber coverage in 2020, up from 26% in 2016. Research firm MarketsandMarkets pegged the cyber insurance market at $7.8 billion in 2020, with the market expected to surge to $20.4 billion by 2024.

War games

Resilience provides every policyholder with preparedness training that includes a “ransomware war game,” a simulation that aims to give policyholders the experience of a real-world ransomware scenario and crisis response.

Resilience also offers continuous security monitoring and notifications using patented technology it calls Cyber Meteorology. “This allows us to quickly handle any incident in-house because our team is integrated with each client,” said Lisa Hill, vice president of marketing at Resilience, in an email.

The company’s security services offer “specific risk insights and real-time status updates of critical controls on a client’s network” using a data visualization tool, Hill said.

“We take proactive measures to help improve the cybersecurity posture of companies in our insured portfolio,” she said. “Through our monitoring capabilities, for example, we are able to send actionable and timely threat notifications to insured clients that alert them of a potential vulnerability on their networks, or provide context for cyber threats that specifically affect their industry verticals.”

Ultimately, Resilience works to “proactively” connect the policyholder’s security posture with their insurance policy, cofounder and CEO Vishaal Hariprasad said in a news release.

Growth plans

The company’s series C round was co-led by General Catalyst and Corey Thomas, the CEO of cybersecurity firm Rapid7. Other investors that took part in the funding round were Lightspeed Venture Partners, Founders Fund, Charles River Ventures, Shield Capital, and Intact Ventures.

The company said it plans to put the funding toward hiring and toward expansion with midmarket customers in North America, as well as expansion globally. The firm currently employs 83 and has 12 open positions, Hill said. The company did not provide details on customer or revenue growth.

Resilience has now raised $124 million since its founding in 2016 by a team with ties to Palo Alto Networks.

Hariprasad and cofounder Raj Shah, chairman of Resilience, previously founded Morta Security, acquired by Palo Alto Networks in 2014. Both went on to work at the cybersecurity firm from 2014-2016. Hariprasad was also formerly an officer with the U.S. Air Force and NSA, while Shah was formerly an Air Force F-16 pilot.

Additionally, Resilience Cofounder Davis Hake, vice president of policy, previously headed cybersecurity strategy for Palo Alto Networks, while Cofounder Matt Hall, vice president of labs, had previously served as a senior engineer at Morta Security.

VentureBeat

VentureBeat’s mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative technology and transact.

Our site delivers essential information on data technologies and strategies to guide you as you lead your organizations. We invite you to become a member of our community, to access: