U.S.-based blockchain security firm CertiK raises additional $60 million investment from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Tiger Global.
This deal marks SoftBank’s first venture into the Web3 security space. CertiK’s $88 million series B3 round and $2 billion valuation were announced within the past month, led by Insight Partners. This additional funding brings the total amount invested in CertiK over the past nine months to $290 million.
CertiK is now backed by industry leaders, including Insight Partners, Tiger Global, Sequoia, Coatue Management, Advent International, Goldman Sachs, Lightspeed, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Hillhouse Capital, Binance, Coinbase Ventures, and more.
Founded by computer science professors Ronghui Gu and Zhong Shao, CertiK offers a range of web3 security services.
Following the loss of over $1.3 billion in crypto assets to cybercriminals in 2021, Certik stated that demand for its industry-leading blockchain security remained high in 2022. Over $1 billion in bitcoin was lost owing to four big bridge attacks in the first quarter of this year, while over $200 million was lost due to several flash loan attacks.
Dennis Chang, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, pointed out that the adoption of Web3 is booming, but concerns around security are holding it back from reaching its full potential. “We believe CertiK combines deep expertise in cybersecurity, blockchains, and systems verification to provide companies with a leading solution in blockchain security and auditing. We are delighted to partner with Professor Gu and the team to support their mission of securing the Web3 world,” Dennis Chang said.
The increased need for Web3 security has resulted in the necessity for more innovative and data-driven security products for the blockchain industry to be developed and operated. CertiK is answering these expectations with solutions like Security Leaderboard, Code Auditing, and Skynet, a threat monitoring service that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In response to the growing trend of project rug-pulls and scams, CertiK recently released its KYC and fraud detection service.
Ronghui Gu, CertiK founder and CEO, said:
“We’re very pleased with this follow-up to our latest round of transaction. These contributions further underscore the importance of web3 security and will help us to further protect the blockchain industry, and build trust in the crypto project community. Events such as cross-chain attacks, flash loans, rug pulls and more have demonstrated the need for end-to-end web3 security that we’re proud to be able to offer, including smart contract auditing, 24/7 threat monitoring, and KYC.”
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