Agari Raises $15 Million to Combat Email Cyberattacks

Agari, a provider data-driven security solutions that help detect email-based cyberattacks, announced this week that it has raised $15 million Series C funding round led by Scale Venture Partners (ScaleVP).

The funding, which brings Agari’s total funding to $22.7 million, will fuel the company’s growth and help support its mission to protect the world from Cyberattacks.

In the past year the company’s client base has doubled and revenue has tripled, Agari said.

According to the most recent Email Trust Index, compiled from Agari’s analysis of 6.5 billion emails per day across 11 industries, threats in the travel sector increased by 800% in Q2 and that over 90% of healthcare companies are ranked “easy targets” for cybercriminals through email.

San Mateo, Calif.-based Agari played a key part in the investigation and operation led by Microsoft Microsoft that successfully disrupted more than 1,000 botnets using the Citadel malware, back in June 2013. The investigation began in early 2012, during which FS-ISAC performed forensics analysis on terabytes of email data collected by Agari.

As a founding member of DMARC.org in 2012 and contributing author of the open standard DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) that underlies Agari’s solutions, Agari helps companies gain visibility into the legitimate and fraudulent use of their domains and email channel, enabling them to protect their customers, employees, and brands from email-based cybercrime.

“By creating a level of unparalleled visibility and control for managing email data in the cloud, Agari is building a connected community of Fortune 1000 clients, mail providers and technology partners,” the company explained.

“Email remains a remarkably powerful and open communication tool, but this strength also makes it the weakest link in the security chain,” said Patrick Peterson, Agari’s founder and CEO. “We’re leveraging our massive dataset of over 1 trillion messages analyzed to power solutions that take email out of the cybercrime equation to eliminate abuse, preserve brand equity, and keep consumers safe.”

“Agari is a classic example of the ideal companies in which we like to invest: those that solve real customer problems with cutting-edge technology and aren’t simply seeking to ride the latest hot trend,” said Ammar Hanafi, general partner at Alloy Ventures. 

Existing investors Alloy Ventures, Battery Ventures, First Round Capital and others also participated in the round. Additionally, Ariel Tseitlin, Partner at ScaleVP will join Agari’s board of directors.