The 10 Hottest Cloud Security Startup Companies Of 2023

Early stage companies focused on protecting identities and data in the cloud are among the year’s most notable cloud security startups.

Protecting The Cloud

For IT and security teams, achieving strong protection for their organization’s use of public cloud environments such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud remains a top priority — and one of the biggest areas of struggle. The same goes for protecting their usage of cloud-based applications, with many companies becoming increasingly dependent on SaaS apps such as Salesforce, Microsoft 365 and Workday. The massive complexity, constant fluctuations and other challenges in the cloud have made security a major area of need for innovation. And numerous startup companies have been stepping up to meet the demand.

As just one indicator of how hot the cloud security space is for VC-backed companies right now, three of the 10 startups we selected for our midyear roundup on cloud security startups have since been acquired in nine-figure deals: Laminar (by Rubrik), Ermetic (by Tenable) and most recently, Dig Security (by Palo Alto Networks).

Among the many cloud security startups that have yet to be scooped up, we have chosen 10 that particularly caught our attention during 2023.

Major focus areas for cloud security startups in 2023 include offering new ways to secure identities and data in cloud environments, as well as improved methods for protecting the use of workplace SaaS apps.

To be included on the list that follows, startups must have been founded since 2020. We’re also intentionally omitted cloud security startups that have already achieved significant scale and wide recognition, such as Wiz and Orca Security.

What follows are the 10 hottest cloud security startup companies of 2023.

Augmentt

Founded: 2020

CEO: Derik Belair

Augmentt offers a multitenant security platform focused on enabling MSPs to protect the use of Microsoft SaaS apps by their customers. The Augmentt platform aims to provide improved visibility for cloud-based Microsoft applications as well as easier auditing of environments and enhanced threat detection, according to the company. In August, the startup unveiled plans to release a Microsoft Licensing Module to simplify MSP management of client licensing.

Cado Security

Founded: 2020

CEO: James Campbell

Cado Security offers what it calls the first platform for forensics and incident response in the cloud. The digital forensics platform is cloud-native—which makes it uniquely designed for cloud environments, according to the startup—and is focused on automating investigation and response efforts. In March, Cado Security landed $20 million in new funding led by investment firm Eurazeo.

DoControl

Founded: 2020

CEO: Adam Gavish

DoControl offers an agentless platform for SaaS security, enabling protection of SaaS apps and data with capabilities including automated remediation powered by no-code workflows. In November, DoControl unveiled a new integration aimed at improved protection of data in Microsoft 365. The integration enables faster on-boarding, enhanced data integrity and support for cloud-native data loss prevention (DLP) for Microsoft Teams, the startup said.

Dazz

Founded: 2021

CEO: Merav Bahat

Dazz offers a cloud security platform focused on improved prioritization and remediation of cloud vulnerabilities, which stands in contrast to tools that are mainly geared toward generating alerts, the company has said. The Dazz platform serves as a centralized place for remediating issues across cloud platforms, infrastructure, applications and code, according to the startup. In November, Dazz unveiled its new Unified Remediation Platform that brings together data from numerous detection tools, correlates related issues and traces the issues back to their root causes —ultimately delivering “a contextual remediation plan to measurably reduce exposure,” the company said in a news release.

Gomboc

Founded: 2022

CEO: Iftach Ian Amit

Gomboc offers what it calls “self-righting cloud security” with capabilities for continuously deploying security fixes for cloud infrastructure that can be approved by DevOps teams through a pull request, eliminating remediation backlog. In August, the startup emerged from stealth and disclosed it has raised $5.2 million in seed funding led by Glilot Capital and Hetz Ventures.

Grip Security

Founded: 2021

CEO: Lior Yaari

Grip Security offers a platform for mitigating identity security risks associated with SaaS usage through capabilities for discovery, prioritization and orchestration of remediation. In August, Grip Security announced raising a $41 million Series B funding round led by Third Point Ventures.

Island

Founded: 2020

CEO: Mike Fey

Island offers a Chromium-based web browser aimed at enabling secure usage of SaaS applications by businesses. The Island browser aims to provide a much greater level of visibility and control over the use of data inside SaaS apps, according to the company. In October, Island raised $100 million in Series C funding led by Prysm Capital, which brought with it a $1.5 billion for the startup.

Legit Security

Founded: 2020

CEO: Roni Fuchs

Legit Security offers an application security posture management platform that aims to provide improved visibility and security throughout the software development process. The startup’s “code to cloud” platform offers a “unified” control plane for application security along with capabilities around automated discovery and analysis in the software development life cycle, the company said. In September, Legit Security announced raising a $40 million funding round led by CRV.

Sentra

Founded: 2021

CEO: Yoav Regev

Sentra offers a data security posture management platform that aims to offer improved visibility into sensitive cloud data, along with greater automation for risk assessment and access analysis related to the data. In January, Sentra announced raising $30 million in Series A funding led by Standard Investments.

Veza

Founded: 2020

CEO: Tarun Thakur

Veza offers a tool that aims to help organizations improve their security around access permissions and privileges with a focus on providing a visual view for more easily spotting anomalous and risky permissions. The tool also enables monitoring of permissions activity, automation of access reviews and remediation of privilege violations. The Veza platform works across identity and data systems, cloud infrastructure, SaaS and custom-built apps. In September, Veza announced raising an undisclosed amount of funding from The Syndicate Group, which is targeted toward ramping up its expansion with channel partners.