Menlo Security

Cybersecurity threats have evolved over the past decade as technology has become increasingly integrated into our daily routines.

The shift to the cloud, the widespread mobile adoption, the remote work, and the surge of enterprise software applications have provided an opportunistic environment for hackers to explore vulnerabilities. There are more access points and greater surface areas for hackers, allowing them to get more creative. The financial and reputational damages that companies have experienced from security breaches have also increased.

As threats have grown, an increasing number of cybersecurity companies have emerged to tackle the expanding attack surface. This has led to a more complex industry which can be difficult to grasp. Now, there are numerous categories centered around the four fundamental components: hardware, software, users, and networking. To name a few: Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Network Detection & Response (NDR), Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Identity & Access Management (IAM), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR), etc.

Fabrica Ventures Fund II has just invested in Menlo Security who pioneered the Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) technology.

Menlo Security brought a new approach to malware prevention based on isolation, that does away with the concept of detection (good vs. bad). The idea of isolation is to isolate and execute all the (web) content in a way that makes it impossible for malware to reach its target. Simply put, RBI creates a virtual air gap between users and the Internet.

Menlo analyzes over 400B web sessions each year globally and it serves more than 100 US government agencies. On a side note, Menlo is so confident in the efficacy of its solution that it offers a $1M warranty in case of ransomware.

The company has raised a total of $265M and its main investors are Vista Equity, General Catalyst and JP Morgan.

Conclusion

The threat landscape continues to evolve everyday, so there is little doubt that cybersecurity will continue to take on an increasing significance in the (mission-critical) tech stack.

As fund managers we have been diversifying in several cybersecurity categories, and now it has become the time for RBI via Menlo Security.