Casting a Digital Shadow over Threat Intelligence

Stand alone pure-play threat intelligence firms have all started with great promise. But somewhere along the way, many have not fully realised their potential.

Recent notable threat intelligence vendor acquisitions

Target	Acquirer	Date	Amount
Malcovery (key assets)	PhishMe	Oct 14 2015	Undisclosed
iSight Partners	FireEye	Jan 20 2016	$200m
Cyveillance	LookingGlass	Dec 10 2015	Undisclosed
Anubis Networks	BitSight Technologies	Oct 21 2014	Undisclosed
IID	Infoblox	Feb 8 2016	$45m

However, that’s not to say acquisition is the only exit or growth path for threat intel vendors. The key is in finding the best use-cases, at the right price points with the right quality of data.

Finding the right combination of these elements is not easy. A task made even more difficult by the fact that determining the quality of threat intel remains a specialist skill set. The elephant in the threat intel room, Norse Corp, serves as the perfect reminder of this.

In these uncertain times, Digital Shadows looks determined to buck the trend and announces $14m series B funding led by Trinity Ventures. and joined by Ten Eleven Ventures, Storm Ventures and Passion Capital. The round closes almost 12 months after it closed its $8m series A

Digital Shadows was founded in London, but today has a joint HQ out of London and San Francisco. Typically Series B rounds are all about scaling, so it’s expected the company will grow its headcount, invest in development as well as marketing.

The next 18 months will likely be the telling time for the company – and maybe for pure-play threat intel vendors as a whole. But a lot will rely on it continuing its momentum, growth and retaining customer interest.