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Vectra raises $36 million in AI-based threat detection push

The startup's Series D round highlights investor interest in AI cybersecurity systems.
Written by Charlie Osborne, Contributing Writer

Vectra has raised $36 million in a series D funding round to push forward the development of artificial intelligence (AI) threat detection systems.

On Wednesday, Vectra announced the fresh cash injection, made possible through a fourth funding round led by growth equity fund Atlantic Bridge.

Founded in 2010, Vectra has developed AI-based threat detection software called Cognito. The platform uses AI and machine learning algorithms to automatically find threats and spurn protection systems to eradicate them.

Vectra says that Cognito "condenses days or weeks of work into minutes and reduces the threat investigation workload by up to 29 times."

The startup says that the funding will be used to further refine Cognito, as well as expand sales and marketing efforts worldwide.

In addition, Vectra says that there are plans in the works to open a new research & development center in Dublin, Ireland.

Alongside lead investor Atlantic Bridge, The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), Nissho Electronics, Khosla Ventures, Accel Partners, IA Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, DAG Ventures and Wipro Ventures all participated in the Series D round.

The company has launched seven funding rounds, starting with a seed round which raised $500 million. Total funding to date is $123 million.

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"We have been impressed by the remarkable growth of Vectra in this fast-moving cybersecurity market," said Kevin Dillon, managing partner at Atlantic Bridge. "The increasing volume, creativity, and effectiveness of cyberattacks means that enterprises must adopt AI to automate cybersecurity operations. We look forward to helping the company expand its global enterprise footprint."

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