TMCnet News
Contrast Security Announces Microsoft Ventures and AXA Strategic Ventures as Global Strategic InvestorsLOS ALTOS, Calif., Dec. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Contrast Security, the pioneer in enabling "self-protecting" software with security safeguards built directly into critical applications, today announced it has landed strategic corporate investments by AXA Strategic Ventures and Microsoft Ventures. This financing is a subsequent closing to Contrast's Series C round announced in October 2017. The investments indicate mounting cross-industry support for Contrast's unique software security approach. AXA Strategic Ventures is the venture capital fund backed by AXA, the leading global insurer and asset manager. AXA has been on the forefront of developing cyber-insurance products, designed to protect corporations and its customers from financial loss and support business continuity. Microsoft Ventures is the corporate arm of Microsoft, the leader of digital transformation in the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Microsoft Ventures partners with visionary entrepreneurs and startups, like Contrast Security, looking to drive transformation through innovative new technologies. "Contrast Security is revolutionizing application security, making it continuous and highly accurate throughout the software lifecycle," said Alex Scherbakovsky, General Partner at AXA Strategic Ventures. "This investment also reflects our confidence in the strength of Contrast Security's management team." Contrast Security arms developers and security professionals with the tools they need to both detect software vulnerabilities early in development and maintain continuous application attack monitoring and blocking into production. By eliminating the number one source of security breaches today – insecure software applications – Contrast Security helps reduce AXA's customers' risk. AXA further demonstrated its commitment to building digital resilience, by also deploying Contrast Security in AXA Switzerland and AXA Germany. "We have transformed our whole Application Development into agile DevOps teams. With Contrast Security technology, all agile developers can build secure applications," said Andreas Maier, CIO and Member of the Executive Board, AXA Switzerland. "Contrast is fully automated in our Jenkins-based continuous integration/deployment environment, which supports our high productivity and security targets." Contrast Assess and Contrst Protect work together continuously across popular development (Agile, waterfall, etc.) and deployment (DevOps, cloud, containers, hybrid, etc.) methods to enable protection throughout the software lifecycle. This unified Contrast Security platform provides the missing component that enables enterprises to succeed in their digital transformation efforts while minimizing risk. "Application security is the fastest growing category in the global IT security market," said Rashmi Gopinath, partner at Microsoft Ventures. "From developers using Microsoft Visual Studio, to organizations running their critical applications in the Azure cloud, Contrast Security delivers high-end real-time application security to protect against serious security threats. Our investment in Contrast Security is a reflection of our view of its state-of-the-art technology, and our belief in how it will benefit enterprise customers." "Having two leaders from their respective industries recognize the potential of our self-protecting software is a major milestone for application security and Contrast Security. AXA is a proven innovator in its own right, designing products to protect organizations from loss. Meanwhile, Microsoft Ventures has proven to be an invested partner to startups, offering access to unrivaled technology, go-to market resources and strategic relationships around the world," said Alan Naumann, CEO and board chairman of Contrast Security. "These strategic investors will enable us to accelerate our business goals and further our mission of building security safeguards directly into critical applications. The Contrast team is thrilled to have them as investors and partners." Contrast's revolutionary approach to application security has won numerous industry accolades this year, including:
About Contrast Security: About Microsoft Ventures: AXA Strategic Ventures: For more information:
View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/contrast-security-announces-microsoft-ventures-and-axa-strategic-ventures-as-global-strategic-investors-300568151.html SOURCE Contrast Security |