Vendor Risk Management Firm Black Kite Raises $22 Million

Black Kite, a provider of third-party cyber risk rating services, announced today that it has raised $22 million in a Series B funding round led by Volition Capital, bringing the total raised by the Boston, Mass.-based company to more than $33.1 million.

Black Kite offers a cyber ratings platform that evaluates risk from a technical, financial, and compliance perspective to help customers determine which vendors pose the highest risk to their organization on a continuous and automated basis.

Black Kite leverages commonly used frameworks developed by MITRE to calculate ratings and convert technical terms into letter grades for simplicity. The platform also uses the Open FAIR model to calculate the probable financial impact resulting from a breach at a third-party vendor or partner.

Black Kite’s classification provides customers with a look into the compliance level of third-party entities for various regulations and standards, including NIST 800-53, ISO27001, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, Shared Assessments, and others.

With the additional funding, Black Kite hopes to expand its presence in a growing, yet increasingly competitive market that includes key players such as BitSight, SecurityScorecard, RiskRecon (acquired by Mastercard), UpGuard, Panorays, SecZetta, and others.

With more than 300 customers, Black Kite says it has more than doubled its customer base and employee headcount over the last year, and recently expanded its headquarters into Boston’s iconic Prudential Center, with continued plans for rapid Boston-based employee growth. 

Existing investors Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV), Glasswing Ventures, and Data Point Capital also participated in the funding round.