Seraphic Security, an Israeli startup competing in the enterprise browser space, has banked $29 million in Series A funding, a sign that investors are still bullish on technology for security-themed browsers for corporate customers.
The company said the financing was led by GreatPoint Ventures. The CrowdStrike Falcon Fund, Planven, Cota Capital, and Storm Ventures also purchased equity positions.
Seraphic Security is working on technology that promises protection from zero-day browser exploits, phishing, and other browser-based attacks, all without requiring separate secure browsers or rerouting traffic.
The company said its approach is designed to keep pace with a market that analysts say is growing due to several trends, including a normalizing of remote work and the increased reliance on third-party contractors. The broader Secure Web Gateway (SWG) and browser security segments are estimated to be worth billions of dollars globally — part of a larger Zero Trust and Secure Service Edge (SSE) market that continues to expand as organizations move more infrastructure to the cloud.
Seraphic Security is pitching an alternative approach to browser security: creating a patented abstraction layer that effectively monitors, randomizes and secures the browser. The technology turns any browser into a secure browser that promises protection and detection capabilities.
The company said the product enables secure access to SaaS and private web applications to employees and third parties from managed and personal devices without the complexity and cost of VDI and VPN connections. It supports all browsers and SaaS desktop applications like Teams, Slack, Discord and WhatsApp.
Despite some doubts about product category and size of the market, venture capital outfits have poured cash in multiple startups (some at ‘unicorn’ valuations) to work on addressing the browser security nightmare. Palo Alto’s acquisition of Talon Cyber Security and Island’s massive investment rounds provided signs that the startup ecosystem would defy competition from tech giants like Microsoft and Google.
Startups competing in the enterprise browser space also include Surf, SlashNext, LayerX and Red Access.
The pitch from these startups is that the major browser vendors — specifically Microsoft and Google — do not provide adequate tooling to protect identities and data flowing through web browsers when employees are working from home, some on personal devices. With a separate enterprise browser, IT admins can control access to critical cloud and internal apps, third-party vendor and contractor connections in a familiar interface.
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