A bot detection and mitigation specialist, which works with William Hill, Sony and Pets at Home, has secured a £9m funding boost.
Netacea received the Series A funding from the likes of long-term backer Mercia Asset Management asd well as the Manchester-headquartered firm's chairman, Rupert Cook.
Crowdstrike chairman Gerhard Watzinger, Malwarebytes CEO Marcin Kleczynski and former Capsule8 CEO John Viega also took part.
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Malwarebytes non-executive director Alex Eckelberry, who has previously held the same role at KnowBe4, also invested.
Netacea is a cybersecurity business that detects and mitigates against bot attacks that target mobile, website and API applications.
It uses threat intelligence and machine learning to identify and mitigate threats in near real-time.
Netacea’s 'unique agentless approach' does not require code to be inserted on customers’ web pages, allowing it to stay hidden from attackers while also protecting mobile apps and APIs.
The funding will enable the firm to expand its presence in the UK and the US.
The company's other clients include Shutterstock, ClearScore and AllSaints.
As well as expanding its US reach, Netacea is to grow its technical team, specifically in development, data science, data analysis and threat research.
Netacea CEO and co-founder Jeremy Gidlow said: "We’re delighted to close this new round of funding—the support and business expertise from our investors has been invaluable in taking Netacea from a new product to an established and confident business.
"We have already won some big U.S. customers, such as Shutterstock, and look forward to continuing our push into the U.S. market."
Mr Eckelberry added: "A simplistic rules-based approach to bot management won’t cut it anymore. Security suites need to be supported by dedicated bot management solutions that can respond to new threats and take advantage of new threat intelligence. Netacea’s agentless approach is the right one."
