RiskLens, a cybersecurity startup based in Spokane, Wash. that helps businesses understand how much cyberattacks could cost them, has landed a $5 million Series A round.
Osage Venture Partners led the round and other investors include Paladin Capital Group, Dell Technologies Capital and Kick-Start. Kick-Start is a familiar name in the Spokane area, as it was founded by Tom Simpson, also co-founder of Spokane technology and retail company etailz.
RiskLens’ main product focuses on what the company calls Cyber Risk Quantification, and it’s a way for companies to communicate how risk from cyberattacks and other incidents affects the bottom line. The company says its goal is to bridge gaps of communication between IT and company executives.
RiskLens co-founder Steven Tabacek told GeekWire that companies are paying more attention to the damage done by cyberattacks around the globe. Executives today are willing to spend time and resources on security, and RiskLens wants to show them how to manage risk.
“Boards/C-Level executives want to know: What is our loss potential, and are we effectively utilizing our capital and personnel resources to mitigate risk?” Tabacek said. “RiskLens answers these critical questions and enables organizations to track and improve upon its risk management capabilities.”
The company was founded in 2011 CXOWARE by Tabacek and Jack Jones and later re-branded as RiskLens. Nick Sanna, former CEO of Netuitive was hired in 2015 and named CEO in January 2016.
According to the Spokane Journal of Business, potential investors were interested in the company, but they wanted the founders to move the home base to Silicon Valley. Now, six years later, the company remains headquartered in Spokane and has capitalized on engineering talent coming out of Washington State University, Gonzaga and Eastern Washington University.
Tabacek spent more than 20 years in managerial and technical positions in government and financial services. Before RiskLens, he was founder and CEO of IT-Lifeline, a data backup and business continuity company. Jones, the company’s executive vice president of research and development, previously served as Chief Information Security Officer at Nationwide Insurance, Huntington Bank and CBC Innovis.
RiskLens currently employs 37 people and growing. Tabacek said the company will use its latest cash infusion to continue marketing and upgrading RiskLens’ software as a service platform.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include information about Nick Sanna, RiskLens CEO.
