Digital Shadows comes in from the cold with US$8m in new funding

11 Feb 2015

Cyber-intelligence player Digital Shadows has raised US$8m in a new funding round from investors Storm Ventures, Passion Capital and TenEleven Ventures.

London-based Digital Shadows monitors 80m sources across 26 languages to detect a range of possible threats to organisations and individuals, including leaked or compromised company data, stolen intellectual property and the identification of potentially hostile cyber-criminal groups.

Digital Shadows provides this service to several multinational companies and is working with the Bank of England on its CBEST programme to deliver intelligence-led security tests to help keep the UK banking sector safe from attack.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced the four-year-old company’s investment this morning at the Grand Central Tech event in New York.

“Digital Shadows is another fantastic example of why US investors are turning to London’s tech talent,” Johnson said.

“My export programme is opening doors for forward-thinking firms like Digital Shadows to explore trade opportunities in the US and to expand their networks. I want to encourage even more of London’s companies to benefit from exporting to this dynamic market, building on the strong existing ties with the UK.”

Culture, contacts and experience

The investment is being led by Storm Ventures, a West Coast US firm that specialises in scaling enterprise software as a service (SaaS) businesses and has invested in Marketo and MobileIron, amongst others. Passion Capital, which invested in Digital Shadows at its seed stage, is also participating in this round.

The VC lineup is completed by TenEleven Ventures, a cybersecurity specialist fund recently set up by Alex Doll (founder of encryption pioneer PGP) and Mark Hatfield (a prominent investor in Cylance, CounterTack and Foundstone). 

Several notable industry figures in cybersecurity are participating as angel investors in this round, including Tim Belcher, former CTO at Netwitness and RSA.

Digital Shadows will use the investment to extend its operations in the US with its first overseas offices. This will see the establishment of Digital Shadows Inc with premises opened in San Francisco and New York City.

“Our investors bring a wealth of expertise that will be invaluable to Digital Shadows as we commence the next stage of our growth plan,” CEO Alastair Paterson said.

“It was vital that we found the right fit in terms of culture, contacts and experience. We feel we have assembled some of the very best in terms of technology and investment expertise globally and can’t wait to grow the business with them, starting with the largest market in the world for cybersecurity services – the United States.” 

Cyber-intelligence image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com