Cybersecurity training startup Hack The Box, which emerged originally from Greece, has raised a Series A investment round of $10.6 million, led by Paladin Capital Group and joined by Osage University Partners, Brighteye Ventures and existing investors Marathon Venture Capital. It will use the funding to expand. Most recently it launched Hack The Box Academy.
Started in 2017, Hack The Box specializes in using “ethical hacking” to train cybersecurity techniques. Users are given challenges to “attack” virtual vulnerable labs in a simulated, gamified and test environment. This approach has garnered more than 500,000 platform members, from beginners to experts, and brought in around 800 organizations (such as governments, Fortune 500 companies, and academic institutions) to improve their cyber-adversarial knowledge.
Haris Pylarinos, Hack The Box co-founder and CEO said: “Everything we do is geared around creating a safer internet by empowering corporate teams and individuals to create unbreakable systems.”
Gibb Witham, senior vice president, Paladin Capital Group, commented: “We’re excited to be backing Hack The Box at this inflection point in their growth as organizations recognize the increasing importance of an adversarial security practice to combat constantly evolving cyber attacks.”
Hack The Box competes with Offensive Security, Immersive Labs, INE and eLearnSecurity (acquired by INE).
Hack The Box is using a SaaS business model. In the B2C market it provides monthly and annual subscriptions that provide unrestricted access to the training content and in the B2B market, it provides bi-annual and annual licenses which provide access to dedicated adversarial training environments with value-added admin capabilities.
