Cybersecurity firm CloudSEK raises funding from IDFC Parampara

CloudSEK Info Security Pvt. Ltd, which develops software-as-a-service (SaaS) information security risk management solutions, said it has raised Rs 3.5 crore ($490,000 at current exchange rate) in a fresh funding round from IDFC Parampara Early Stage Opportunities Fund.

The company plans to evolve its flagship product, XVigil, a unified risk management platform which secures business across cyber threats, data leaks, identity thefts, fake applications, fake domains, fake pages, third-party interfaces, and infrastructure security. Besides that, the firm aims to expand its presence in India and South-east Asia, a statement by CloudSEK said.

Founded in 2015 by cybersecurity expert Rahul Sasi, CloudSEK is headquartered in Singapore and has an operations centre in Bengaluru. Sasi has worked with cyber intelligence firm iSight Partners.

CloudSEK, which has so far raised $2.5 million in funding, is backed by investors such as Exfinity Ventures, former Infosys board member V Balakrishnan, StartupXseed Ventures, and ME Meeran Foundation, which is the investment arm of Kochi-based Eastern Group.

The company’s cybersecurity platform is powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning. The startup was seed-funded in 2015 by ME Meeran Foundation. CloudSEK helps organisations identify, assess, control and monitor cyber threats in real time. The startup claims that its platform is able to provide timely, specific and actionable intelligence to organisations, allowing them to intervene and prevent costly breaches and losses.

After establishing its presence in financial, e-commerce and transportation sectors, CloudSEK now plans to target the pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and retail industries. Its clients include Axis Bank, Federal Bank, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Olam, Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Go-Jek, HDFC Bank and BankBazaar.

Last year in November, CloudSEK raised Rs 14 crore (a little less than $2 million) in pre-Series A funding led by early-stage investors Exfinity Venture Partners and StartupXseed.

A couple of other cybersecurity startups have raised funding in the recent past.

Last year, Lucideus Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which provides digital security services for companies, raised $5 million (Rs 36 crore) from JC2 Ventures, which is investment firm of former Cisco executive chairman John T Chambers.

Before that, security solutions startup Sequretek IT Solutions Pvt. Ltd raised Rs 27 crore (approximately $3.7 million) in a bridge round of funding led by Mumbai-based venture capital firm Unicorn India Ventures.