RiskIQ, a company that helps detect digital threats stemming from the Web, online ad networks and mobile, announced this week that it has raised $25 million in a series B round of financing.
The San Francisco, California-based security startup said it plans to use the funds to enhance research and development, expand internationally and invest in sales and marketing. In particular, the company wants to expand its customer base in the insurance, ecommerce, media and consumer packaged goods sectors.
According to the company, the more than 100 customers, including eight of the 10 largest financial institutions in the U.S., use its technology to monitor web and mobile assets for malware, malicious apps and brand infringements.
“The RiskIQ service combines cloud based intelligence and analytics with a worldwide proxy network and software that emulates real users to expose malware on websites, in mobile apps and advertisements,” the company explained. “Most malware can recognize and evade typical web crawler technology. Using RiskIQ, companies can detect and take down website resident malware, malvertisements and malicious and copycat mobile apps to protect customers from attack and fraud.”
“Criminals are exploiting the trust that customers have in the brands they do business with online,” said Elias Manousos, CEO of RiskIQ. “Companies are recognizing this and looking for ways to protect their digital assets from being used to launch attacks against users. We knew this was going to be a big problem when we started RiskIQ several years ago. This new investment will help us take full advantage of this rapidly growing market opportunity.”
The funding round was led by Battery Ventures and supported by existing investor Summit Partners. As part of the deal, Michael Brown of Battery Ventures has joined RiskIQ’s Board of Directors.
“RiskIQ has developed an innovative solution that allows companies to police their digital assets – web, mobile and advertising – against threats that can do harm to their customers, and ultimately their brands,” Brown said. “We were very impressed with RiskIQ’ s technology, team and vision for addressing a problem that is big and just getting bigger.”
