Enterprise security firm Tessian extends funding to $74M

Enterprise security firm Tessian Ltd. revealed today that it has extended funding from a previous round in May to $74 million to accelerate its mission of mitigating and preventing human risk in the enterprise.

The additional funding comes from Okta Ventures, Citi Ventures, Sozo Ventures and executives from CrowdStrike. Previous investors in the round were March Capital, Balderton Capital, Latitude, Sequoia Capital and Schroder Adveq.

Founded in 2013, Tessian pitches itself as pioneering a new approach to cybersecurity with “Human Layer Security,” an approach that considers that some form of human error causes most data breaches. The company’s platform, powered by machine learning, provides visibility into human security risks. The system automatically prevents security threats while driving employees toward secure email behavior through in-the-moment security training, the company says.

Tessian’s platform uses behavioral intelligence models tailored to individual employees by analyzing communication patterns and behaviors online. Machine learning models automatically detect security threats and prevent them from turning into breaches by notifying the employee of the risk. Those alerts are said to help employees improve their security behaviors.

With the additional investment, Tessian also plans to expand its platform’s capabilities beyond email, securing other interfaces such as messaging, web and collaboration platforms from human error incidents.

“The biggest threat to enterprise security today is people’s identities and behaviors,” Austin Arensberg, director at Okta Ventures, said in a statement. “With more people working remotely, it’s never been more important for companies to know who their most high-risk employees are, the threats they pose to company security and how to keep them safe — without disrupting their workflow.”

The threat presented by more people working remotely has driven Tessian’s growth. The company tripled its Fortune 500-level customers in 2020 and as of May, had more than 350 global customers across a range of sectors. Notable clients include Arm Ltd., Affirm Inc., Investec Ltd. and RealPage Inc.

Including this new funding, Tessian has raised $132.7 million to date, according to Crunchbase.

Photo: Tessian