ReliaQuest on Wednesday announced a new funding round that puts the company at a valuation of more than $1 billion.
The new funding will help ReliaQuest accelerate the expansion of its business operations and the continued development of its cloud-native GreyMatter Open eXtended detection and response (XDR) platform.
“Customers are gravitating to our Open XDR approach to deliver tailored security outcomes for their organization and are embracing ReliaQuest as a true force-multiplier for their security programs,” said Brian Murphy, CEO of ReliaQuest. “This investment allows us to both increase our market presence and continue to innovate on our GreyMatter platform.”
Cloud security and XDR have been some of the biggest winners during the pandemic, said Hank Thomas, CEO at Strategic Cyber Ventures. Thomas said in 2022 he expects that the industry will see more operational and strategic-level moves as a new, more permanent, security framework gets established to support today’s hybrid workforce environment.
“Once hybrid is officially declared the way we will work, for at least the next few years, expect even further security platform consolidation,” Thomas said. “The XDR trend is part of this.”
Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst and an Enterprise Strategy Group fellow, said this funding round serves as a testament to the security transformation and SOC modernization trend, the growing XDR market, the appeal of Open XDR, and the level of investment into cybersecurity in general.
“ReliaQuest has some big and visible reference customers, so investors have faith in the company’s technology,” Oltsik said. “The investments are meant to scale the company, increase go-to-market activities, expand internationally, and speed product development. The bet is that if the company can execute in these areas, market demand will carry it to even greater heights.”
Frank Dickson, program vice president for security and trust at IDC, said the ReliaQuest news comes at a time when security has evolved from lightly-connected best-of-breed solutions to integrated and orchestrated architectures, under the banner of XDR.
“However, the future of XDR has yet to be defined,” Dickson said. “Impressive money is being invested in independent solutions. Even more impressive amounts of money are being spent by existing vendors such as Microsoft, Cisco, and others. In the short-term, organizations should focus on solutions that add benefits, but should be prepared to adjust their XDR approach as the market evolves.”
