Cybersecurity firm CounterTack announced a fresh $10 million funding round on Tuesday to help it compete in the increasingly crowded sector of security aimed at protecting organizations’ servers, computers, and other so-called “endpoint” devices.
Waltham, MA-based CounterTack says it will use the money to expand its business on two fronts: increasing its sales in the Asia-Pacific region, and signing up more government customers in North America.
The 85-person company says it plans to boost hiring in both regions to capitalize on those opportunities. A spokeswoman says that includes three openings in Singapore and 15 new positions across CounterTack’s offices in Waltham, Sacramento, CA, and Santa Monica, CA.
CounterTack sells endpoint detection and response products, which aim to protect an organization’s network by focusing on the devices that access the network, such as smartphones, laptops, and servers. It’s one of the most competitive segments of the cybersecurity industry these days. Related companies include Carbon Black and Promisec in the Boston area, and Cylance and CrowdStrike in California.
CounterTack’s approach involves trying to detect and analyze malicious behavior in real time and stop it before it inflicts major damage. The firm’s products play into broader themes around automating cybersecurity tasks and trying to respond more quickly to attacks.
The company was founded in 2004 in Alexandria, VA, under the name NeuralIQ. In 2011, it raised a $9.5 million Series A round, rebranded itself, moved its headquarters to Waltham, and brought in new management, including current CEO Neal Creighton.
Creighton’s notable moves have included raising more venture capital and acquiring ManTech Cyber Solutions International, the software division of Virginia-based ManTech International (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MANT]]). As part of that deal, ManTech also became an investor in CounterTack and a global distributor of its products.
To date, CounterTack has raised about $72 million total from investors, the spokeswoman says. The new money comes from previous investors TenEleven Ventures, Fairhaven Capital, Goldman Sachs, Razor’s Edge Ventures, ManTech International, Siemens Venture Partners, Alcatel-Lucent, Mitsui, and EDBI, the corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board.
