In the “Spy vs. Spy” world of cybersecurity, everything changes and nothing stays the same. So it should come as no surprise that EdgeWave, a San Diego-based cybersecurity company, has been through a few transmutations since it was founded in 1995 as St. Bernard Software.
As part of its latest transformation, EdgeWave says today it has raised $6 million in new equity funding from TVC Capital, the San Diego growth equity firm that specializes in software and software-enabled service companies. EdgeWave says TVC’s investment, along with a $5 million credit facility arranged separately with Square 1 Bank, will be used to accelerate demand for the company’s security technology for corporate computer networks and other big customers.
The announcement marks the culmination of an overhaul that began in early 2012, when telecom executive and former Naval aviator Dave Maquera joined the company.
Maquera, who officially succeeded Lou Ryan as CEO almost 20 months ago, has been enacting a comprehensive new strategy for EdgeWave that takes the company into cloud-based computing to address today’s proliferating array of new security vulnerabilities, made possible by the rise of social media and mobile computing.
These days, computer networks are subject to intense and well-organized cyber attacks from groups as diverse as the Chinese military in Shanghai to cyber criminals in Russia. Citing some industry estimates, Maquera says companies, government agencies, and other institutions around the world spend about $73 billion a year on cybersecurity, yet still sustain cybercrime losses estimated at close to $475 billion a year.
“The net-net is when you’re spending $73 billion and losing half a trillion dollars, something is broken,” Maquera says. “What’s required is a robust, end-to-end security suite to counter the threats.”
Strategy is Maquera’s strong suit. He was previously the chief strategist at Clearwire, the Bellevue, WA, wireless wholesale carrier now owned by Sprint Nextel, and before that served as CIO and vice president of strategic development at San Diego’s Cricket Wireless, now part of AT&T.
Maquera, who flew in
