Drata nabs $25M to automate safety compliance processes

Compliance and safety automation startup Drata today announced that it closed a $25 million series A round led by GGV capital, with participation from Okta Ventures and Silicon Valley CISO Investors. The capital, which comes six months following the company’s initial seed round and launch out of stealth, will be place toward hiring across important go-to-marketplace functions and the expansion of Drata’s into new safety frameworks.

Even ahead of the pandemic, safety compliance was high-priced. In 2018, corporations spent $1.3 million on typical to meet compliance specifications and had been anticipated to place in an added $1.8 million, the International Association of Administrative Professionals reports. But that is growing the concern for providers creating digital transformations. According to CSO Online, 66% of providers see compliance mandates driving spending in the future.

San Diego, California-based Drata’s platform aims to assist providers attain compliance by means of safety handle monitoring and proof collection. With it, customers achieve visibility into their safety applications and can kick off compliance processes which includes personnel onboarding, policy creation, vendor management, threat assessment, and more.

Founded in 2020, Drata is the brainchild of Daniel Marashlian and brothers Adam and Troy Markowitz. The 3 saw their 1st venture collectively, the social networking platform Portfolium, acquired by Instructure for $43 million in 2019. As Portfolium grew, so did consumer requests for proof of the company’s safety posture, Adam Markowitz says, taking hundreds of hours and distracting the group from its day-to-day.

“Many software-as-a-service companies are still using Excel with multiple workbooks and complex formulas to capture and retain crucial information about cybersecurity compliance controls. This dumps hoards of Excel workbooks into file shares, email archives, and hard-drives — all with critical information about their company’s cybersecurity posture sitting in disconnected silos — a recipe for disaster,” Adam Markowitz told VentureBeat by way of e mail. “The shift to the cloud, explosive growth in the number of software-as-a-service companies over the last decade, along with increased frequency of data breaches, has placed a magnifying glass over the cybersecurity and compliance world.”

Process automation

In compliance, proof collection is the act of documenting an organization’s compliance processes and outcomes. Examples of proof include things like testing and certifications, threat assessment, and private trading.

Drata presents what Adam Markowitz calls an “autopilot system” — a layer of communication involving siloed tech stacks and compliance controls created to get rid of the need to have to verify dozens of systems to provide proof to auditors. Drata shops proof automatically on a single-tenant database architecture, guaranteeing one customer’s information does not touch another’s, and tracks physical and digital assets as effectively as personnel and records.

With Drata, prospects can start out developing a strong safety posture from day one and prepare an audit when they’re prepared. Adam Markowitz says that to date, Drata has has tracked 550,000 assets, tested 5 million access controls, and onboarded 15,000 personnel.

“Data breaches are expensive and big companies are not immune, costing them tens of millions per year. Proof of compliance has become a requirement for doing business and building trust,” Adam Markowitz mentioned. “There is no ‘easy button’ or clear roadmap to the finish line — trying to determine the most efficient path to compliance is nearly impossible without outside assistance or prior experience.”

Drata has a quantity of competitors in a safety compliance marketplace estimated to be worth more than $162.5 million. There’s Securiti.ai and Safeguard Cyber, as effectively as DefenseStorm, which consolidates safety information from many sources and uncovers anomalies with AI. Cybersecurity rating and threat-monitoring platform SecurityScorecard lately announced it has raised $180 million. And Vanta, a San Francisco, California-based automated safety and compliance startup, closed a $50 million funding round in March.

But according to Adam Markowitz, Drata’s existing consumer base currently involves “hundreds of companies” across different industries, which includes SmartRecruiters, The Good Face Project, and 360 Insights.

Clearco safety engineering lead Christine Smoley mentioned that integrating Drata only took “a matter of minutes.”

“We’re now able to see our audit-readiness in real time, and receive tailored insights outlining exactly what needs to be done to remediate gaps. The Drata team has removed the headache from the compliance experience and allowed us to engage our people in the process of establishing a ‘security-first’ mindset,” Smoley mentioned.

New investors Cowboy Ventures, and Leaders Fund also participated in the round, along with strategic investors and safety practitioners. Drata, which has about 40 staff, has raised $28 million to date.

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz