Bridgecrew, which makes automated cloud security tools for engineers, raises $14M Series A led by Battery Ventures
In today's grim economic climate, companies are looking for ways to automate wherever they can. Bridgecrew, an early-stage startup that makes automated cloud security tooling aimed …
Context & Ripple Effects
Bridgecrew's April 2020 raise landed at the moment companies were cutting costs and looking to automate wherever possible, and its pitch — automated cloud security tooling built for engineers rather than separate security teams — fit that shift exactly. The round was led by Battery Ventures, which was simultaneously building a cluster of DevOps bets around the same thesis, including its $16M Series A in LinearB for engineering management tooling months later.
The bet paid off fast: less than a year after this round, Palo Alto Networks bought Bridgecrew for $156M, roughly eleven times the Series A size, making this one of the quickest large exits in the security-as-code category.
First-order effects
- Bridgecrew gets the capital to expand its automated cloud security tooling aimed at engineers during a downturn when buyers specifically want automation that reduces manual work.
Second-order effects
- Battery Ventures doubles down on the same DevOps-tooling thesis with adjacent rounds in Styra's authorization tooling and LinearB, building a portfolio position across the developer workflow.
Third-order effects
- Palo Alto Networks' $156M acquisition of Bridgecrew shows platform security vendors consolidating developer-facing point tools rather than building them, compressing the window between a security-as-code startup's Series A and its exit.
The trend: Cloud security is shifting from periodic audits toward code-embedded automation owned by engineers, with large platform vendors acquiring the startups that define the category.