Founders: Arik Liberzon and Arik Faingold
Founding: 2015
Mission: Reinventing security validation
Employees: 200 & ~20% Local
Workplace: Hybrid
Stage & Capital Raised: Series D & $250M raised
Investors: Evolution Equity Partners, Farallon Capital, Insight Partners, K1, and Blackstone
Key Customers: Blackstone, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, and Hibank
Glassdoor Rating: 4.9
Valuation (estimated): $1B+ (shared in the March ‘25 Series D fundraise announcement)
^ this is a useless number from MGMT Boston. There is no tangible valuation until the business is sold or goes public. Don’t forget it!
Pentera is building a leader for automated security validation, arming every organization with the ability to test the integrity of their cybersecurity defenses. This late stage growth company allows enterprises to see their current security exposure(s) at any moment and any scale.
Here are some key highlights about growth stage cybersecurity leader Pentera:
Pentera (originally called Pcysys) was founded in 2015 by Arik Liberzon and Arik Faingold. In the cybersecurity realm, penetration testing was labor-intensive and in desperate need of automation. Arik, Arik & team built a platform to automate real-world attack simulations, aiming to help organizations rethink how to validate and monitor their cybersecurity defenses.
With over 88% of organizations experiencing breaches in the past two years, the need for effective security validation is paramount (src). Cybersecurity budgets as a percentage of IT spend has grown from 8.6% in 2020 to 13.2% in 2024 (src) and is nearing $200B in annual spend (src).
In a world of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, Pentera helps ensure organizations are well protected by providing insights into vulnerabilities and prioritizing remediation efforts in an efficient way, categorizing & streamlining alerts down to their root causes. Their platform simulates real-world cyberattacks so enterprises can validate their security posture.
Through automated security validation across internal networks, cloud infrastructures, and external-facing assets, Pentera has a number of offerings. Pentera Core validates internal network security controls, Pentera Surface assesses external-facing assets exposed to the internet, Pentera Cloud evaluates cloud-native infrastructures for vulnerabilities, RansomwareReady™ tests resilience against ransomware attacks, and Credential Exposure identifies compromised credentials from various sources.
Enterprises across industries have leveraged Pentera’s platform to enhance their cyber defenses. Blackstone has utilized the platform to ensure robust defense mechanisms for continuous security validation. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is safeguarding customer data through continuous testing and Hibank was able to shed expensive third party consultants who only conducted periodic assessments for critical applications.
In April, the company announced their Distribution Attack Orchestration architecture and AI-reporting capabilities. These new updates provide visibility into how adversaries can exploit the enterprise attack surface, while AI-based reporting aggregates the trends security leaders need to prioritize to reduce exposure across the organization.
Pentera has grown ARR by 300% since December 2021 and their customer base has reached 1,100 enterprises. The company will be investing its recent $60 million Series D fundraise into expanding its presence in North America, investing in AI-driven automation, and exploring strategic acquisitions to enhance the platform offering.
This growth stage startup was named one of Fast Company’s 2023 Most Innovative Companies, a Deloitte 2023 Fast 500 company, one of Inc. 5000’s Top 10 Fastest Growing Private Cybersecurity Companies, and received the 2022 Black Unicorn Award for their growth & market leadership.
Operators to Know (Locally):
- Tyler Bascom, Senior Director of Sales Development, Americas
- Cooper Fuller, Director of Customer Success Americas
- Clint Harrington, Team Lead, Business Development
- Melissa Pinciak, Sr. Field & Channel Marketing Manager
- Thomas Pore, Director of Sales Engineering, Americas
- Jack McDonough, Regional Sales Director, New England
- Colleen Reichlen, Field & Channel Marketing Manager
- Alex Rose, Sales Development Manager
My investigative powers continue to need work so apologies to the Pentera team I know I missed many up & coming operators internally
Key Roles To Be Hired (Locally):
If I were interviewing here are some questions I’d ask:
- What are the top strategic initiatives for 2025?
- What are the biggest challenges as you scale the team in North America, globally, and to 200+ employees?
- What is the long term vision for the company?
- How is the competitive landscape changing in the agentic AI era for cyber attackers & defenders?
We’re optimizing for readability here so to learn more about Pentera you’ll have to D.Y.O.R. I’m excited to watch this team bring more enterprises into the age of AI. All cybersecurity defenders applaud your efforts. See you around town!