The most notable cloud security startups this year are companies focused on data protection and using GenAI in the cloud in the early stages.
While securing cloud environments remains a concern for organizations, the arrival of generative AI poses—or increases—a number of challenges for protecting the cloud. When it comes to data security, for example, generative AI systems rely on massive datasets that can contain sensitive information, making data privacy and security a greater priority as AI initiatives increase.
(Related: Top 20 Cloud Security Companies in the Cloud 100 2024)
This has led to continued demand for new cloud security capabilities that provide a differentiated approach to protecting cloud and AI, and a number of promising startups are looking to meet these needs. Notably, many of these startups are prioritizing working with channel partners even from the early stages of their sales efforts.
For example, Amiram Shakar, co-founder and CEO of Upwind Security, said the company is focused on driving growth through partnerships with solution and service providers. “I’m a big believer in channels,” Shakar said. He added that partnerships have included both smaller value-added merchants and large solution and service providers. “Most of our big accounts that we have now have come from channels,” Shakar said.
To be included in the following list, startups must have been founded since 2019. (Note: We also ignore cloud security startups that have already achieved significant scale like Wiz and Orca Security.)
Here are the key details of the top 10 cloud security startups in 2024 so far.
Asterix Security
Founded: 2021
CEO: Alon Jackson
Astrix Security uses an agentless approach to enable greater control over non-human identities across SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS. The tool provides rapid detection of all non-human identities and access tokens while detecting and remediating compromised access, according to the company. Astrix has raised nearly $40 million in funding, including a $25 million Series A round led by CRV in June 2023.
Sierra
Founded: 2021
CEO: Yotam Segev
Cyera offers an agentless data security posture management (DSPM) tool that enables discovery, classification, assessment, and protection of unstructured and structured data. Notably, Cyera’s DSPM technology works across cloud environments and SaaS applications as well as data lakes and on-premises environments, according to the company. In April, Cyera announced that it had raised $300 million in a Series C round led by Coatue, bringing the company’s valuation to $1.4 billion and $460 million in total funding raised.
It passed
Founded: 2021
CEO: Merav Bahat
Dazz offers a cloud security platform focused on improving the prioritization and remediation of cloud vulnerabilities. The company said the Dazz platform aims to correlate issues across detection tools and provide a robust remediation plan rather than generating alerts. Dazz has raised $60 million in funding to date, including a $50 million Series A round in late 2021 from investors including Insight Partners, Greylock Partners, and Index Ventures.
Safety grip
Founded: 2021
CEO: Lior Yaari
Grip Security provides a platform to mitigate identity security risks associated with SaaS deployments through discovery, prioritization, and remediation orchestration capabilities. In August 2023, Grip Security announced a $41 million Series B funding round led by Third Point Ventures.
Legal security
Founded: 2020
CEO: Ronnie Fox
Legit Security offers an application security posture management platform that aims to provide enhanced visibility and security throughout the software development process. The company said the “code-to-cloud” platform provides a “unified” layer of control over application security along with automated discovery and analysis capabilities across the software development lifecycle. In September, Legit Security announced it had raised a $40 million funding round led by CRV.
Maitika
Founded: 2019
CEO: Tal Moses
Mitiga, which was a finalist at the RSAC Innovation Sandbox in May, offers “advanced” threat detection, investigation, and response capabilities in cloud and SaaS deployments. The company said the offering ultimately enables customers to address cloud threats “70 times faster than traditional capabilities.” In March 2023, Mitiga announced it had raised $45 million in Series A funding led by ClearSky Security.
Sentra
Founded: 2021
CEO: Yoav Regev
Sentra offers a data security posture management platform that aims to provide enhanced visibility into sensitive cloud data, along with greater automation of risk assessment and data access analysis. At RSAC 2024 in May, the startup unveiled a new offering, Sentra DataTreks, along with on-premises support to help organizations determine when sensitive data is moving between environments. In January 2023, Sentra announced it had raised $30 million in Series A funding led by Standard Investments.
Sweet security
Founded: 2022
CEO: Dror Kashti
Sweet Security unveiled its Cloud Runtime Security Suite in August 2023, which provides detection and response as well as runtime detection and prevention. The company said the tool uses a rapidly deployable runtime sensor and the ability to stream application data and business logic to its servers. In March, Sweet Security announced it had raised $33 million in Series A funding led by Evolution Equity Partners.
Wind security
Founded: 2022
CEO: Amiram Shahar
Upwind offers a comprehensive runtime cloud security platform that includes cloud workload protection, cloud detection and response, as well as CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management), CIEM (Cloud Identity Rights Management), and other capabilities. The startup said Upwind’s platform leverages the company’s “lightweight” eBPF (Extensible Berkeley Packet Filter) sensing technology to identify anomalous behavior and provide automated protection. In September 2023, Upwind announced a $50 million funding round led by Greylock, Cyberstarts, and Leaders Fund, bringing the company’s total funding to $80 million in less than a year since its debut.
Visa
Founded: 2020
CEO: Tarun Thakur
Veza offers a tool that aims to help organizations improve their security around access permissions and privileges, with a focus on providing a visual representation to more easily detect anomalous and risky permissions. The tool also enables monitoring of permission activity, automating access reviews, and remediating privilege violations. The Veza platform works across identity and data systems, cloud infrastructure, SaaS, and custom applications. In September 2023, Veza announced raising an undisclosed amount of funding from The Syndicate Group, which is targeting further expansion with channel partners.
