watchTowr secures $19 million in funding for expansion

watchTowr has announced the successful completion of a Series A funding round, securing $19 million to support its expansion in the cybersecurity domain.

The funding round was led by Peak XV, previously known as Sequoia India & Southeast Asia, with continued support from Prosus Ventures and Cercano Management. This recent investment elevates watchTowr's total funding to $29 million. The proceeds from this round are intended to bolster the company's market presence and accelerate growth by enhancing its sales, research, and engineering divisions.

watchTowr, under the leadership of Benjamin Harris, who has a significant track record in cybersecurity, seeks to simulate the tactics of cyber attackers to underline potential vulnerabilities and enhance the security measures of businesses, including critical infrastructure and Fortune 500 companies. "If there's a way to compromise your organisation, watchTowr will find it," said Harris. "In the last 12 months, our predictions have been realised. Attackers have become faster at weaponising emerging vulnerabilities, more aggressive at leveraging weaknesses to compromise organisations indiscriminately, and time to exploitation in the wild is now measured in single-digit hours. We strongly believe that rapid reaction to these threats is one of the most powerful capabilities security teams can leverage."

The watchTowr platform stands out by providing real-time insights into potential threats and continuously identifying exploitable vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by attackers. This approach is bolstered by the company's commitment to staying ahead of emerging cyber threats through continuous research and development within watchTowr Labs. This research division is recognised for its expertise in identifying vulnerabilities and reproducing exploits used by advanced persistent threat (APT) groups, as demonstrated with the analysis of issues in Ivanti's Connect Secure VPN product (CVE-2024-22024).

The company also announced the addition of Chris Merritt, the former President of Field Operations & Chief Revenue Officer at Cloudflare, to its board of directors. Merritt, who is currently an Operating Partner at Peak XV, brings a wealth of experience in scaling businesses to substantial revenue targets. "watchTowr has an incredible team, technology and opportunity," Merritt commented. "They're solving a major challenge for global organisations by enabling them to view their systems like trained adversaries, validate weaknesses and help stop breaches – at scale. watchTowr is seeing incredible interest, and we look forward to helping Ben and the rest of the team cement their future as the next market-leader in cybersecurity."

This strategic move is expected to guide watchTowr in navigating global growth as it aims to become a central player in the cybersecurity sector.

Peak XV Partners is a venture capital firm investing across India, Southeast Asia and beyond. Over the last 18 years of our operations in the region, Peak XV has grown to manage over $9 billion in capital across 13 funds and invested in over 400 companies. The portfolio has seen 23 IPOs and multiple successful M&As, resulting in over $5 billion in realised exits so far.

watchTowr is focused on redefining External Attack Surface Management with its Continuous Automated Red Teaming technology, built by offensive security experts and backed by real-world vulnerability research. Critical infrastructure and Fortune 500 companies globally trust watchTowr to continuously validate and strengthen their security postures.