Cheq, the Israel-based developer of a cybersecurity software offering for marketing operations, secured $150m in series C funding on Tuesday from investors including insurance provider Phoenix Insurance Company.
The round was led by Tiger Global Management with additional backing from Battery Ventures, Hanaco and Key1 Capital. It takes Cheq’s overall funding to $183m and it valued the company at over $1bn according to Calcalist.
Founded in 2016, Cheq provides cybersecurity software which helps companies clamp down on fake engagement, advertising fraud and false visitors by using artificial intelligence, user validation and behavioural analysis to separate good and bad web traffic.
The series C proceeds will be used to expand the company’s research and development capabilities and grow its sales and marketing teams, with a view to nearly tripling its growth over the course of this year in the North America, Asia and Europe, Middle East and Africa regions.
Phoenix Insurance (not to be confused with the UK-based insurance provider of the same name, which maintains its own corporate venturing vehicle) has been actively investing in startups across multiple sectors.
The firm took part in a $200m series C round for Germany-based electronic device service Everphone in December 2021 that was led by Cadence Growth Capital and also backed by financial services firm Deutsche Bank and telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom.
Phoenix also led an $8m series A round for US-based property rental services provider Qira in October 2021, four months after leading a $20m series C round for Israel-headquartered, plant-based food producer Equinom, investing with chemical producer BASF, Fortissimo Capital, Trendlines Group and Maverick Ventures Israel.
Last month, Phoenix took part in an a $15.4m series A round for Israel-based real estate insurance provider HoneyComb together with fellow insurer SiriusPoint, insurance broker NFP’s Distributed Ventures subsidiary, IT-Farm and Sure Ventures.
The company backed a $33m series B round for another Israel-headquartered company, quantum software development technology provider Classiq, last week alongside corporate venturing units Samsung Next, Hewlett Packard Pathfinder and IN Venture.
Cheq chief executive Guy Tytunovich told VentureBeat this week: “40% of the web is made up of fake traffic, bots and malicious users. This poses a strategic threat to the wellbeing of go-to-market operations, as fake traffic floods their tech stack, sales pipelines, marketing funnels, websites, e-commerce and data systems.
“Cheq protects the entire go-to-market operation from these threats, ensuring their systems, funnels and pipelines are free of bad traffic.”
Battery Ventures had participated in Cheq’s $16m series B round in 2019 alongside MizMaa Ventures, after previously leading a $5m series A round the previous year.
