Tessian Raises $65M to Combat Social Engineering with AI

Tessian Secures $65 Million in Series C Funding

U.K.-based email security startup, Tessian, has recently finalized a $65 million Series C funding round, marking a significant investment in the European tech landscape.

The company leverages machine learning to create personalized behavioral models for enterprise email usage.

Investment Details

This funding round was spearheaded by March Capital, with participation from existing investors including Accel, Balderton Capital, Latitude, and Sequoia Capital.

Schroder Adveq joined as a new investor in this Series C round.

With this latest financing, Tessian’s total funding now exceeds $120 million.

The company is now valued at $500 million, as announced today.

Funding History

Tessian previously secured $40 million in Series B funding in January 2019.

Prior to that, a $13 million Series A round was completed in mid-2018.

Customer Base and Market

Currently, Tessian serves approximately 350 global customers.

These clients span key sectors such as legal, financial services, healthcare, and technology.

Notable customers include Affirm, Arm, Investec, and RealPagem.

Growth Driven by Remote Work

The shift to remote work, accelerated by the pandemic, has heightened security concerns for enterprises.

This expanded the attack surface, creating a greater need for robust security solutions.

Tessian experienced substantial growth as a result, tripling its Fortune 500 customer base in the past year.

This growth reflects the increasing demand for solutions addressing human layer security threats.

Future Plans

The new funding will be allocated to expanding the platform’s capabilities.

Tessian aims to provide alternatives to traditional secure email gateways and legacy data loss prevention systems.

The company also plans to significantly increase its team size, particularly within its North American sales division.

Expansion beyond email security to encompass messaging, web, and collaboration platforms is also planned for the near future.

Industry Perspective

Jamie Montgomery, co-founder and managing partner at March Capital, stated that human error is a primary cause of data breaches.

He highlighted Tessian’s ability to automatically mitigate threats in real-time without disrupting business operations.

Montgomery noted the overwhelmingly positive feedback received from both CISOs and end-users.

Competitive Landscape

Several U.K.-based AI security startups are gaining prominence, including Red Shift and Senseon.

These companies are utilizing machine learning to address various security risks.

Darktrace, a pioneer in the field, successfully launched an IPO on the London Stock Exchange in April, experiencing a 32% increase in share value.

The U.K. government has also committed to increased R&D spending on AI, particularly within the defense sector.