Noname Security closes $60M Series B to eliminate API flaws

Enterprise API security startup Noname Security has raised a $60 million Series B funding round, just six months after closing $37 million at Series A. 

The round was led by Insight Partners with Next47, Forgepoint, and The Syndicate Group (TSG) also participating, and brings Noname’s total funding to $85 million since emerging from stealth in December 2020.

The startup, which currently has a 70-strong workforce and offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv, says it raised rapidly due to the fact the pandemic has fueled a growing dependence on APIs. Naturally, this proliferation of APIs has led to an increase in the number of API security incidents. Earlier this year, for example, an Experian API exposed the credit scores of nearly every American with one, and just weeks later a leaky Peloton API allowed anyone to grab users’ private account data directly from the company’s servers. Facebook, LinkedIn, Echelon, and Clubhouse have also fallen victim to scraping attacks that abuse access to APIs to pull in data about users on their platforms. 

“The need for API security was so strong and got super emphasized during the pandemic,” Oz Golan, CEO of Noname, tells TechCrunch. “We want to help organizations to leverage APIs securely, and we want to eliminate all of the API vulnerabilities out there. We don’t want another Experian incident.”

The Silicon Valley startup provides a holistic security platform that uses AI and machine learning to enable enterprises to see and secure managed and unmanaged APIs exposed by the organization, consumed by the organization, or used internally, thereby eliminating the API security blind spots. The majority of these flaws often go unnoticed for years, according to Noname, giving anyone who can find them unfettered access to an organization’s most sensitive operations.

“Even seasoned security professionals often have no idea how exposed their systems are,” Golan says.

In its six months since launch, the startup has amassed 40 technology, reseller, and channel partners, as well as “hundreds” of enterprise customers either in production or trialing the platform.

“Because of the huge traction that we have seen, we want to accelerate – expanding our sales team, marketing team, customer success, R&D. Basically growth, growth, growth,” says Golan, who previously served as director of engineering at NSO Group. 

Commenting on the funding round, Thomas Krane, principal at Insight Partners — which recently led a $75m Series C funding round in cybersecurity skills platform Immersive Labs — said: “The surging volume of APIs and the growing complexity of modern applications has led to an increase in cybersecurity obstacles. Noname came to market at just the right time with a fully realized, next-gen technology that’s making a big impact with global customers.”

API security is a hot ticket for investors right now. Last month, London-based 42Crunch raised a $17 million Series A, and just weeks later California-based Salt Security closed a $70 million Series C — bringing the total amount of funding the company has raised in the last year to $120 million.