On Wednesday, open source application security startup WhiteSource announced it closed on a $75 million Series D led by Pitango Growth. WhiteSource is headquartered in Israel but employs about 50 people at its office here in Boston, and is currently hiring. This latest round brings the company’s total funding raised to more than $120 million.
Founded in 2011, WhiteSource was created to help application developers detect vulnerabilities in their code, preventing potential security issues early on in the development process. Developers can also monitor all their open source dependencies, license risks and other data points on a single dashboard, which allows them to dig down into specific vulnerabilities to see where they exist and how they can go about fixing them.
Over the years, says Pitango Growth managing partner Isaac Hillel, WhiteSource has become a leader when it comes to open source security.
“WhiteSource has established the standard on open source security,” Hillel said in a statement. “We have been watching their growth with great interest, and we are excited to partner with them as they embark upon their next chapter of industry leadership.”
The broader application security space has become increasingly busy in recent years, especially amid the global pandemic. With so many businesses developing their own online applications to remain open remotely, folks are flocking to companies that can help keep them secure, which has attracted investors’ attention. Just last month, three other Boston-based cybersecurity startups — Snyk, Aqua Security and Corvus — raised triple-digit funding rounds, garnering the support of VC heavyweights like Insight Partners, Tiger Group and Accel.
WhiteSource has also been riding this wave, growing revenue by 800 percent and its customer base fivefold in the last three years. The startup counts companies like Microsoft and IBM among its more than 800 global customers, and plans to use this funding to grow its product and user base even more.
“Application security needs have gone beyond just detection to include continuous prioritization and prevention,” WhiteSource’s co-founder and CEO Rami Sass said in a statement. “This investment brings us closer to creating a future where the cycle of application delivery is always a step ahead of any security risk, and where developers are easily equipped with code they can trust.”
