Preempt Secures $17.5M in Series B

Preempt, a company revolutionizing the way enterprises protect themselves from cybersecurity breaches and internal threats, raised $17.5 million in a Series B round supported by ClearSky, Blackstone, Intel Capital and General Catalyst. Preempt is the first company to deliver Identity and Access Threat Prevention, which allows enterprises to preempt threats in real time based on identity, behavior and risk. The funding will help Preempt in expanding operations to accelerate product innovation and go-to-market strategy.

In tandem with the Series B funding round, Preempt is also announcing that Patrick Heim, operating partner at ClearSky, will join Preempt's board of directors.

"ClearSky is thrilled to bring Preempt into our investment portfolio. Preempt's unique approach to breach prevention has made this a compelling investment for us," said Heim. "It was exciting to see Preempt take a radical new approach to solving vulnerabilities that lie at the core of virtually all enterprises and are commonly leveraged by attackers in major breaches."

"Blackstone began its relationship with Preempt as a customer and, as we worked alongside them, we were encouraged by their execution and vision," said Adam Fletcher, chief information security officer at Blackstone. "As the perimeter changes to be more focused on identity and points of access, Preempt's identity-centric vision and adaptive measures represent a strong and innovative approach to preventing cyber threats in real time."

"Staying ahead of data breaches and access threats requires updated approaches to cybersecurity protection," said Wendell Brooks, senior vice president of Intel Corporation and president of Intel Capital. "Preempt's approach helps prevent unauthorized access across the enterprise while helping its customers save money."

The adaptive nature of Preempt's approach helps enterprises stop real threats before impact and ensures all transactions are verified, so business can remain fluid. Preempt has scaled to support some of the largest and most complex organizations and is now deployed in major Fortune 500 enterprise organizations, along with strong success in the finance, retail, healthcare and legal industries.

Preempt Platform key capabilities include:

Real-Time Adaptive Security – Prevent threats in real-time across all network resources (on prem, cloud, SaaS, etc.) with the ability to continuously preempt threats based on identity, behavior and risk.
Context Based Access Control – Determine and enforce who is able to access what resources and in what context without network segmentation or application development.
Tool and Protocol Containment – Detect and control the misuse of network and operational tools (PSExec), prevent use of hacking tools, deeply inspect authentication protocols (NTLM, Kerberos, RPC, LDAP) and detect known issues like pass-the-hash.
Unified Visibility – See all user activity in one place (access, behavior, history, profile, changes, locations, device, role, PW strength, privileges, VPN, SSO, etc.) along with consistent access visibility across all applications.
Open and Extensible Architecture – Easily exchange intelligence and integration with other security solutions for greater context and enforcement.

"Our mission is to provide a more holistic approach around securing and protecting identity within the enterprise and to make it easier for enterprises to preempt threats before they impact the business," said Preempt CEO and co-founder Ajit Sancheti. "This investment, which was driven and supported by several practicing CISOs – including Patrick Heim and Adam Fletcher – validates our vision that the enterprise needs a new, modern approach to prevent security breaches and internal threats."

"Preempt's strong customer traction validates our vision and product market fit," said Roman Blachman, Preempt CTO, co-founder and head of Israeli Operations. "With this additional funding, we look forward to infusing our teams with more enterprise security expertise to help fuel the company's growth and momentum."

The new investment follows an $8 million Series A round in 2016 led by security leaders and innovators including: General Catalyst, Mickey Boodaei and Rakesh Loonkar, the founders of Trusteer; and Paul Sagan, former CEO of Akamai Technologies. This brings Preempt's total funding to $27.5 million.

Learn more about how our customers use the platform in the Preempt blog.

About Preempt
Preempt protects organizations by eliminating internal threats and security breaches. Threats are not black or white, and the Preempt Platform is the only solution that delivers identity and access threat prevention that continuously preempts threats based on identity, behavior and risk. This ensures that security threats and risky employee activities are responded to with the right level of security at the right time. The platform easily scales to provide comprehensive identity based protection across organizations of any size. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with research and development located in Ramat Gan, Israel. Learn more about us at www.preempt.com.

About ClearSky
ClearSky is a venture capital/growth equity firm that has been operating since 2012 with offices in Florida, New York, Boston and San Francisco. ClearSky is currently investing through two funds: ClearSky Power & Technology and ClearSky Security. ClearSky Power & Technology invests in innovative companies providing technology and services to enterprise customers, with a special focus on the power sector. ClearSky Security invests in companies that offer transformative solutions for cybersecurity, industrial security and critical infrastructure security.

About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the worlds leading investment and advisory firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, the companies we advise and the broader global economy. We do this through the commitment of our extraordinary people and flexible capital. Our asset management businesses include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, hedge fund solutions, non-investment grade credit, secondary funds, and multi asset class exposures falling outside of other funds mandates. Blackstone also provides various financial advisory services, including financial and strategic advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory and fund placement services. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

About Intel Capital
Intel Capital invests in innovative startups targeting artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, workload accelerators, 5G connectivity, virtual reality and a wide range of other disruptive technologies. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested US $12.3 billion in 1,530 companies worldwide, and more than 660 portfolio companies have gone public or been acquired. Intel Capital curates thousands of business development introductions each year between its portfolio companies and the Global 2000. For more information on what makes Intel Capital one of the world's most powerful venture capital firms, visit www.intelcapital.com or follow @Intelcapital.

About General Catalyst
General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that makes early-stage and transformational investments. We back fearless entrepreneurs who are building market-leading technology companies like Airbnb, BigCommerce, ClassPass, Datalogix, Datto, Demandware, Gusto, The Honest Company, HubSpot, KAYAK, Oscar, Snap, Stripe, and Warby Parker. With offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York City and Boston, our portfolio companies benefit from a bicoastal network of talent, customers, and opportunity. For more: www.generalcatalyst.com.