VMRay logo
'This is further validation of the unique malware analysis technology that VMRay has developed. Our approach can give enterprises the edge in battling relentless cyberattacks,' said VMRay CEO Carsten Willems.
Bochum, Germany (PRWEB) October 14, 2016
VMRay GmbH, provider of 3rd generation agentless threat analysis and detection, today announced it has closed $3.9 million (3.5 million euro) in Series A funding with eCAPITAL entrepreneurial Partners AG and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). VMRay will use this funding to accelerate its product development roadmap and expand its sales and marketing worldwide.
Since VMRay’s entry to market at the beginning of 2015, many of the world’s largest global enterprises and leading technology vendors have come to rely on VMRay for automated evasion-resistant threat analysis and detection that works on-premises or in the cloud. With this round of funding, VMRay will establish a U.S. office in Boston, MA, for North American customer support and worldwide sales and marketing. The Company will also expand the research and development team, led by co-founder and CTO Ralf Hund, in its Bochum, Germany, head office in order to continue to broaden its offerings and maintain its competitive lead.
“This is further validation of the unique malware analysis technology that VMRay has developed. Our approach can give enterprises the edge in battling relentless and ever-more sophisticated cyberattacks. The skills and specific expertise to tackle these threats are in short supply among organizations worldwide,” said VMRay CEO and co-founder Carsten Willems. “An automated analysis tool such as VMRay that easily integrates into existing security infrastructure enables enterprises to effectively leverage the resources they already have, while dramatically improving their visibility into the threat landscape, whereby improving their ability to react and defend.”
VMRay’s agentless automated threat analysis solution leverages hypervisor-centric technology and a unique monitoring approach (Intermodular Transition Monitoring or ITM), developed through years of research by the co-founders. By embedding monitoring and control of the target analysis environment in the hypervisor, VMRay Analyzer avoids the malware evasion and scalability challenges that hamper other approaches.
"IT and cybersecurity is one of our current key investment target sectors. VMRay's sandbox technology is a great leap forward for the industry. We have not seen any solution with similar capabilities," said Willi Mannheims, Managing Partner of eCAPITAL. “The product is well established commercially, thus we view this financing as an acceleration round. We are looking forward to helping facilitate the company’s growth as VMRay expands its offerings and market presence. VMRay already constitutes the fifth major investment by the eCAPITAL IV Technologies Fund, which was started in 2016.”
“As the seed investor in VMRay, we saw early on the potential of their solution and the ability of the co-founders to execute their vision. When the opportunity arose to make a further investment, we didn’t hesitate. Given what the team has accomplished already, we know they will take VMRay into a leadership position in enterprise cybersecurity,” said Holger Heinen, Investment Director of HTGF.
About VMRay
VMRay delivers 3rd generation threat analysis and detection using advanced agentless hypervisor-based dynamic analysis. The VMRay Analyzer is platform independent and highly scalable, the result of a decade of R&D by Carsten Willems and Ralf Hund, two of the world’s leading experts on dynamic malware analysis. By monitoring at the hypervisor level, VMRay Analyzer is undetectable by malware running in the target operating system. Based in Bochum, Germany, VMRay works through channel partners and OEMs to serve leading enterprises around the world. To learn more, visit https://www.vmray.com/.
About eCAPITAL
eCAPITAL entrepreneurial Partners AG is a Muenster-based alternative investment fund manager (AIFM) in accordance with the European Venture Capital Fund Regulation (EuVECA). As one of the leading venture capital firms in Germany, eCAPITAL has provided venture assistance to entrepreneurs in technology-driven growth sectors since 1999. Our investments primarily focus on innovative technologies and applications in the areas of ICT, Industry 4.0, Cleantech and New Materials. eCAPITAL currently manages 6 funds with total assets under management of € 160 million and provides both early- and later-stage financing. To learn more, visit http://ecapital.de/en/.
About HTGF
High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) is Germany’s most active and leading seed stage investor. We finance technology-driven companies – whether in the fields of cleantech, robotics, developing new drugs, chemical processes or new software. Our portfolio companies profit from our experience and the extensive network of our team and its technological and entrepreneurial expertise. To learn more, visit http://high-tech-gruenderfonds.de/en/.
