Cybersecurity training firm SafeStack raises $6m to help ‘sacrificial lambs’

SafeStack Academy founder and CEO Laura Bell Main. Photo / File

A Whangarei-headquartered startup that helps software developers hone cybersecurity skills has raised $4 million to close a two-part seed round totalling $6.3m.

SafeStack founder and chief executive Laura Bell Main describes inhouse cybersecurity staff as “sacrificial lambs” - because they are often the first to lose their jobs when things inevitably go wrong.

Her young firm targets companies who want a more positive approach and help staff with SafeStack’s online courses, simulation drills and closed community “where it’s safe to say, ‘This is hard. I don’t know what I’m doing. I need help’,” Bell Main says.

The founder knows about working in a high-stress environment herself. Her previous roles include real-time radiation monitoring for the Large Hadron Collider and a stint in counter-terrorism for the UK Government,

Clients include Air New Zealand, ASB, and BNZ’s Australian parent National Australia Bank (NAB) but Bell Main says her company also serves organisations including “a two-person non-profit”.

All up, SafeStack has signed 360 organizations in 34 countries since it launched in 2020.

Its founder is targeting a total addressable market of software developers, which she puts at 28.7m by 2024.

For now, it’s early days. Annual recurring revenue is running at a rate just under $1m under SafeStack’s “freemium” model.

Bell Main sees that doubling in the next 12 to 18 months.

She says breaking the seed financing round into two parts (the initial $2.3m was raised in October) helped SafeStack navigate the “big chill” in venture capital as rates rise and recession looms.

It also helped that NAB was sufficiently impressed that its venture capital wing participated in the raise - which was led by Australasian VC Blackbird Ventures (which recently raised $75m for its second dedicated NZ fund).

Carthona Capital and Jelix Ventures (both based in Sydney) and the Crown-backed NZGCP’s Aspire fund also supported the raise.

Seed money will be used for an expansion push, but that won’t include hiring, Bell Main says.

SafeStack currently has 22 staff - mostly in NZ but with six in Australia. All work from home, scattered around both countries, with Bell Main based in Whangarei.

Bell Main remains the largest shareholder, with a 48 per cent stake, followed by Blackbird NZ (16 per cent) and Jelix (13 per cent).

Smaller investors include Aspire (4 per cent), NAB Ventures (3.5 per cent), Carthona (2 per cent) and Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 (2 per cent).

The founder says a much larger Series A raise will follow, which could be in around 18 months. The size and timing will depend on market conditions.

“What stood out to us was the breadth and variety of SafeStack’s global customer base which has grown to hundreds of companies in less than two years,” Blackbird principal Phoebe Harrop says.

“Despite their diversity, these companies share an understanding that secure development starts with people,” she added.

“It’s more important than ever that everyone who touches software development understands and considers security as they build. Led by the unstoppable Laura, SafeStack is making security a team sport.”