Tel Aviv-based Grip Security, which helps companies protect data in SaaS apps, raises a $25M Series A led by Intel Capital
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
Grip Security's $25M Series A lands two months after fellow Tel Aviv firm Adaptive Shield raised its own $30M Series A for securing SaaS apps, confirming that protecting data living inside third-party SaaS tools had become a fundable category rather than a niche. Intel Capital leading the round adds a corporate backer with deep enterprise reach to what was otherwise a specialist security bet.
The bet paid forward: less than two years later Grip raised a $41M Series B led by Third Point, taking total funding to $66M — one of the faster progressions among the Tel Aviv SaaS-security cohort that also includes Valence Security and Frontegg.
First-order effects
- Grip gets the capital to scale engineering and go-to-market against incumbents' native controls, while Intel Capital gains an early position in SaaS data protection ahead of its planned split into a standalone fund.
Second-order effects
- Rivals like Adaptive Shield and Valence Security now face a better-funded competitor in the same buyer's budget, pushing the category toward differentiation on identity risk and supply-chain coverage rather than generic app visibility.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — Grip's Series B, Act Security's later emergence from stealth around reducing cloud access surfaces — SaaS security consolidates from point products into platforms that treat identity and access as the primary control plane, with Tel Aviv as the category's supply base.
The trend: Tel Aviv is becoming the default origin of SaaS data- and identity-security startups, with corporate VCs like Intel Capital funding them early and growth investors validating the category within two years.