Menlo Security, which blocks malware using its cloud-based isolation platform, raises $40M Series C
Cybersecurity startup Menlo Security has closed a $40 million series C round of funding from American Express Ventures, Ericsson Ventures, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, General Catalyst …
Context & Ripple Effects
Menlo Security has been building toward this round since it emerged from stealth in 2015 with $25M and a thesis that malware should be stopped by keeping execution away from the endpoint entirely. The Series C adds a telling investor list: alongside General Catalyst sit the venture arms of American Express, Ericsson, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase — the banks and carriers whose own networks are the product's target market.
First-order effects
- Menlo Security gets $40M to scale its cloud-based isolation platform, with HSBC and JPMorgan Chase now positioned as both investors and prospective enterprise customers.
Second-order effects
- Strategic backing from four financial-sector investors hands Menlo a distribution channel into banking security budgets that pure-play rivals must now compete against, raising the bar for other isolation and secure-web-gateway vendors chasing the same deals.
Third-order effects
- If bank CVCs keep funding infrastructure that moves security controls off endpoints and into the cloud, enterprise architectures shift toward per-workflow isolation — a pattern the company's later $100M raise at an $800M valuation suggests had legs.
The trend: Enterprise security is migrating from detecting malware on devices to isolating web execution in the cloud, with financial institutions' venture arms underwriting the shift.