Comcast Ventures, the corporate venturing unit for mass media group Comcast, has co-led a $20m series B round for US-based network security technology developer Aporeto.
The unit co-led the round with unnamed strategic and financial investors, and the round also featured National Grid Partners and Telia Ventures, the respective investment arms of energy utility National Grid and telecommunications group Telia.
Venture capital firms Wing Venture Capital and Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) also participated in the funding, while David Zilberman, managing director of Comcast Ventures, will join the Aporeto board of directors.
Founded in 2015, Aporeto has developed cybersecurity software to protect cloud applications and networks from being hacked, by encrypting every communication with a cryptographically signed identity. The technology is designed to prevent security breaches by not relying on IP addresses or static access control lists.
Zilberman said: “We are excited to work with the Aporeto team as they rapidly expand their unique approach to securing cloud applications and networks.
“Aporeto is taking a unique approach to securing dynamic cloud workloads at scale and disrupting the network security incumbents that are still trying to shoehorn static, appliance-based solutions into a cloud environment where they do not fit.”
NVP had already led an $11.2m series A round for the company in May 2017 that included Wing, which had previously led Aporeto’s $3.3m seed round in 2015, investing together with Data Collective.