Israeli email security firm IronScales has raised $15 million to help the company scale further globally, a move that could result in the doubling of staff at the North American headquarters in Atlanta by the end of 2020.
Led by returning investor K1 Investment Management, the Series B round brings the Tel Aviv-based company’s total external capital raised to $25 million. IronScales has more than tripled revenue in less than two years, thanks to a channel partner program that has driven revenue globally and helped the company approach the 1,000-customer mark.
IronScales’ automated platform combines human intelligence and machine learning to prevent and detect phishing, a long-established email scam practice where cyber criminals use links that appear legitimate to get a customer to click and reveal personal or financial information.
“While email phishing is the oldest and most recognizable cyberattack technique, it remains an extremely complex problem that today requires the power of both artificial and human intelligence in an ongoing cycle of innovation for it to have any positive effect on an organization’s security posture,” said Eyal Benishti, IronScales’ founder and CEO, said in a news release.
In outlining his reasons for choosing Atlanta initially, Mr. Benishti cited factors that draw many foreign companies to the city.
“We like the Southern hospitality here, and the weather reminds us of back home in Israel. We were attracted to the region because of the relatively low cost of doing business, the international airport, the large number of Fortune 1000 companies, and access to talent from Georgia Tech and other universities in the area,” he said.
Atlanta is also a strong hub for cybersecurity and has carved out a niche by attracting Israeli firms in the sector, especially city and state government leaders led a delegation to the country in 2014.
Last year, Tel Aviv’s Cyber 2.0 launched a $100,000 hacking challenge in Atlanta, promising the prize money to anyone who could crack the company’s systems.
The city’s strong corporate community jibes well with IronScales, which protects companies during times of increased vulnerability as they move email programs and other online resources to the enterprise cloud.
The company also plans to use its new investment to expand in Europe and Asia.
