Austin-based security startup Ontic announced Thursday it closed on a $12 million Series A funding round led by Felicis Ventures. This brings the company’s total capital raised to nearly $17 million.
Ontic’s platform helps businesses protect themselves and their employees against dangers like physical violence or insider threats by gathering and connecting hundreds of real-time and historical data points. Security teams can then use the software’s analysis to detect potential threats to the business quickly.
Initially, one might think the threats Ontic is after would be on the decline since many of the world’s offices are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Ontic CEO and co-founder Lukas Quanstrom says that, across all industries, the company’s clients have seen a 300 percent increase in data related to the virus.
“Executives are now at home. They’re not traveling, they’re not back and forth between different offices, so they’re easier targets for threat actors. Facilities remain empty and that can be exploited during these times as well,” Quanstrom told Built In. “You also have a lot of laid-off employees and current employees expressing frustrations and even threatening these companies and these individuals during this time.”
The company has also seen an increased demand for supporting businesses’ delivery drivers.
While he did not disclose specific companies, Quanstrom says many of Ontic’s clients are global Fortune 1000 companies spanning a variety of industries, including tech, financial and entertainment.
As for this most recent funding round, Quanstrom says the company will use it to develop its platform, expand into new markets and grow its team. Right now Ontic has 46 employees and the goal is to have about 75 by the end of the year, filling roles in positions like sales, marketing and product management so the company is prepared for whatever threats its clients face down the road.
“I think what our investment team saw here was a need that doesn’t disappear both in the midst of a crisis like COVID-19 ... and at the tail end of a crisis like this as well,” Quanstrom said. “The ability to really support some of the world’s biggest companies as they seek to maintain operation and keep their people safe is a great calling. We look forward to being able to do that in more and more ways with each new feature and solution capability of the product that we build.”
