ZeroFox Secures $27M B-Round Led by Highland Capital

Corey Mulloy, general partner at Highland Capital, joins ZeroFox board as they tackle the cyber risks associated with social media

DEC. 3, 2015, BALTIMORE, MD — ZeroFox, the leader in social media cyber security, has raised an additional $27 million in capital to provide detection and defense for social media security threats. Previous investors NEA, Genacast Ventures and Core Capital also participated in the round, along with Silicon Valley Bank. Finally, several industry veterans participated in the round as strategic investors, including Lane Bess, former CEO of Palo Alto Networks; Tim Eades, CEO of vArmour; and Avi Rubin, the Technical Director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

In conjunction with the round, Corey Mulloy, general partner at Highland Capital, is joining the ZeroFox board. Corey is a seasoned investor in the cyber security industry and has helped guide several market-leading companies to successful exits. His track record in the industry is impressive, including sitting on the board of Datiphy, Malwarebytes, vArmour and Gigamon where he serves as the publicly traded company’s Chairman of the Board.

“It has become a truism that every new digital platform is quickly followed by corresponding digital security,” said Corey Mulloy. “Social media is the biggest change in the digital landscape over the past decade, and organizations are increasingly coming to terms with the risk exposure associated with social networking. ZeroFox has perfectly positioned and proven themselves as the social media cyber security experts. I am confident that ZeroFox’s exceptional team and technology will define and dominate this quickly developing market.”

Much has been written about the rise of social network exploitation and the use of social media to compromise corporate networks. Cisco’s 2015 Midyear Report claims Facebook scams are the #1 method to breach the corporate network, far more common than traditional email phishing. McAfee reported that employees experience cyber crime on social media more than any other business platform, including email. According to Norton, 40% of people have fallen victim to social media cyber crime and nearly 4 in 10 accept unknown, unsolicited friend requests. Barracuda’s research supports this as well: 92% of social media users report receiving spam, 54% have received phishing links and 23% have received malware. Finally, TrendMicro’s research shows that 5.8% of tweets are malicious; roughly 29,000,000 malicious tweets per day.

“Over the past year and a half, the ZeroFox team has done an exemplary job of growing their company with purpose,” said Peter Barris, ZeroFox board member and Managing General Partner at NEA. “Their development has been tailored to the increasing market demand for a powerful social media cyber security solution. Across the board, their numbers are trending in the right direction and at the right pace. I am thrilled to help guide ZeroFox through their next phase of growth, and I’m invigorated by Highland Capital’s interest and partnership.”

“I am honored to have some of the most renowned and experienced venture capitalists on the ZeroFox Board of Directors,” said James C. Foster, ZeroFox Chairman and CEO. “We started down this journey less than 3 years ago, and in that time, the support and guidance we received from our investors has been invaluable. The vote of confidence in my team and me is humbling. With Highland Capital’s investment, we are excited to continue providing organizations across the globe with the most comprehensive social media security possible.”

ZeroFox will focus on accelerating scale by adding significant investment into engineering, global sales & marketing efforts, increasing M&A activities and applying additional emphasis around IP protection & defense.

This news comes shortly after ZeroFox announced the addition of two new sales executives, Alex Abey and Scott O’Rourke. ZeroFox also recently announced that former CEO of Palo Alto Networks, Lane Bess, had been added to its Board of Directors

About Highland Capital Partners  

Founded in 1988, Highland Capital Partners is a global venture capital firm focused on putting the entrepreneur first. With offices in Palo Alto and Boston, Highland Capital has raised over $3 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 271 companies, resulting in category-defining businesses across consumer and enterprise technology. Investments include 2U, Bit9 + Carbon Black, CheckFree, Lululemon, Qihoo, Starent Networks, Sybase, VistaPrint, and VMTurbo. For more information, visit www.hcp.com.

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