News
Systemic Security Investing: A First In Framework
16 July 2024 By Arthur Karell and Renny McPherson Systems thinking is a central element of military leadership. The challenges our operational forces face downrange belie simple categorization and linear approaches. Warfighters must make sense of complex...
Defense tech start-up Anduril Industries raises $1.5 billion, now valued at $14 billion
9 August 2024 Defense start-up Anduril Industries announced Wednesday that it raised $1.5 billion in funding for its Series F round, valuing the company at $14 billion.
ZeroTier raises $13.5M to help avert CrowdStrike-like network problems
With the CrowdStrike update continuing to cause havoc across the planet, a startup has raised $13.5 million to at least improve some level of security for the kinds of devices that have been affected.
Army embraces virtual reality training
Some Army units will soon offer troops suicide prevention training on virtual reality headsets that transport the soldier inside the home of a peer in crisis with Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer coaching them through the scenario.
Shift5 unveils tech for GPS spoofing detection and mapping
Onboard operational data company Shift5 has developed a new tool for detecting and mapping GPS spoofing, the firm announced Thursday (4/25).
Anduril Selected for U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program
United States Air Force announced that Anduril has been selected as one of two vendors to move forward on the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program.
Pre-revenue and pre-product? No problem for founder’s fundraise
April 3, 2024 - Cybersecurity company Dapple Security followed up its SAFE with a priced seed round. The keys? Founder-market fit and communicating a vision to investors.
Shift5 Named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2024
ROSSLYN, VA – March 19, 2024 – Shift5, the observability platform for onboard operational technology (OT), has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2024. This year’s list shines a spotlight...
Antithesis: Deterministic Simulation Testing for Our Entire SaaS
March 12, 2024 WarpStream - How we leverage Antithesis to deterministically simulate our entire SaaS platform and verify its correctness, all the way from signup to running entire Kafka workloads.
Hypersonic weapon startup Castelion has first prototype missile test
March 11 (Reuters) - Castelion, a startup trying to build a hypersonic weapon for the Pentagon, tested its system for the first time, it told Reuters on Monday, as a growing group of small hypersonic arms makers challenge large defense contractors...
Precog Featured as an SAP Partner
Learn how Precog solves critical business challenges for customers by leveraging the full power of SAP Business Technology Platform capabilities for their AI-driven, no-code data integration (ELT) platform. Maximizes your customer's value of their operational data...
Code testing startup Antithesis raises seed funding at $215 mln valuation
Feb 13 (Reuters) - Software testing startup Antithesis has raised $47 million in seed funding, valuing the company at $215 million, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Amplify Partners, Tamarack Global, and First In Ventures led the funding round, the...
Emerging Themes in Security Technology in 2024
13 February 2024 By Renny McPherson and Arthur Karell At First In, we invest in entrepreneurs who are building companies that secure our freedom. That encompasses cybersecurity software businesses, defense technology companies, and extends to companies automating...
How this founder went from the NSA to launching a digital security startup
The Centennial-based startup recently raised a $2.3 million pre-seed.
US Army Selects Shift5 to Protect HIMARS Against Cyber Threats
The US Army has entered into an agreement with American firm Shift5 to bolster the cyber resiliency of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). As part of the deal, the Virginia-based company will install tools to allow the combat-proven...
Arthur Karell Joins Tyler Sweatt on All Quiet on the Second Front Podcast
The Human Aspect of Mergers and Acquisitions with Arthur Karell - Today on All Quiet, Tyler is joined by Arthur Karell, a seasoned expert in corporate development. Arthur delves into the complex world of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), emphasizing the critical...
Podcast: From the military to the boardroom – Bunker Labs Chair Lenore Karafa talks her transition from Marine Corps Officer to venture capitalist
In honor of Veterans Day, in this special episode of Women on the Move Podcast Host Sam Saperstein talks with Lenore Karafa, Marine Corps veteran, venture capitalist, and chair of Bunker Labs. Lenore discusses her military career and her transition into the finance...
Cloneable Emerges From Stealth With Funding: Launching AI-driven Platform Designed to Give Machines the Decision-Making Power of Human Experts
Cloneable, a no-code platform designed for building and deploying intelligent applications on edge devices including tablets, IoT devices, robots, and drones, emerged today out of stealth. The founding team, drawing on a decade of expertise as leaders in the...
Adlumin Named to The Information’s 50 Most Promising Startups 2023
Companies with the potential to be the most valuable businesses in their categories—based on current revenues, business models, and growth prospects.
AnySignal Closes $5M Seed Round to Build Multi-Domain Radio Platform
The radiofrequency technology company plans to use the funds to execute on considerable customer backlog by growing production and R&D capacity.
a16z-backed Castelion wants to mass-produce defense hardware, starting with hypersonics
One builds weapons in the hope that they are not used. Thus goes the central premise of deterrence theory, which says it is the credible threat of aggression — not the use of aggression — that will ensure states avoid war.
How DOD can more effectively leverage venture-backed innovation
By First In Venture Partner and Shift5 CEO Josh Lospinoso
Palmer’s Luckey Strike
The 30-year-old American billionaire building robotic subs, and more, in Australia.
Gabby Fong on the Atlanta Startup Podcast: The VC Hyper-Focused on Innovation Within Cybersecurity, Defense, and Duel-Use Tech
On the Atlanta Startup Podcast, First In Senior Associate Gabby Fong discusses innovation in cybersecurity, defense tech, and dual-use technologies. Topics include use cases for operational technology and critical infrastructure security, vendor consolidation, the...
Anduril acquires solid rocket motor manufacturer Adranos
‘Through this acquisition, Anduril will become a merchant supplier of solid rocket motors to prime contractors’
Generative AI and Security Technology
05 June 2023 By Maggie Engler, Technology Advisor at First In No area of technology has attracted more attention over the past six months than generative AI. That fertile period, sparked by OpenAI's release of ChatGPT in late November 2022, included major...
Phylum is one of Inc. Magazine’s Best Workplaces of 2023!
From tenure-based sabbaticals to covering healthcare costs to paying your people to take vacation, the winning benefits share a theme: meeting employees’ needs.
Shift5 CEO and First In Venture Partner Josh Lospinoso Testifies to Congress
Washington, D.C. - "Major weapon system programs, both new and old, need funding and requirements to make them AI ready," Shift5 CEO and First In Venture Partner Josh Lospinoso testified to the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services regarding the improvement...
Shift5 Adds JetBlue as Investor, Partner
(WASHINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL) Arlington, Va. - Shift5’s technology “has the potential to revolutionize aviation cybersecurity,” says a managing director at JetBlue Ventures.
Emerging Themes in Defense Tech: Investing in the Cost Curve
16 February 2023 By Arthur Karell, Partner at First In We have seen a rush of investor interest in emerging defense technology companies going into 2023. That is no surprise. Publicly-traded defense industry stocks began to outperform the broader S&P index...
Emerging Themes in Cybersecurity – 2023
26 January 2023 By Renny McPherson, Managing Partner at First In, and Brian Mongeau, Principal at First In The proliferation of cyber attacks and cyber crime in recent years have made it clear that cybersecurity is, and will be for years to come, both an...
Why Dual-Use and Defense Technologies are the Next Growth Sectors
(REAL CLEAR DEFENSE) by First In Investor Reed Simmons - Dual-use and defense technologies are at an inflection point. The return of great power competition has demonstrated the geopolitical importance of technological dominance.
Strategic Trends in Distributed Computing
14 November 2022 By Arthur Karell, Partner at First In In February 2020, Huawei released a position paper that measured the aggregate total computing power of various nations. Most rankings of national computing focus on government-owned supercomputers, but...
Intelligence Community Help Wanted: Open Source Ninjas
(THE CIPHER BRIEF) by Grist Mill Exchange CEO and First In Venture Partner Kristin Wood - New Open Source technologies have birthed the relatively new field of open-source investigation and we need more of it.
The Tradecraft Around New Open Source
(THE CIPHER BRIEF) Grist Mill Exchange CEO and First In Venture Partner Kristin Wood and SVP Cynthia Saddy argue the case for new open source tradecraft.
Shift5 Announced as a 2022 Cyber Capital Award Winner by the Northern Virginia Technology Council
(YAHOO) McLean, Va. - Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), the trade association representing the National Capital Region’s technology community, today announced the winners of the fourth annual NVTC Capital Cyber Awards. Shift5 won Commercial Cyber Company of...
Tidal Cyber Closes $4M Funding Round
(PRESS RELEASE) Tidal Cyber today announced the close of a $4 million funding round to continue making threat-informed defense achievable.
First In Adds Arthur Karell as Partner
(PRWEB) Nashville, Tenn. - Today, First In™ announced the investment team’s expansion to include Arthur Karell as a Partner. Arthur's expertise is centered on the investment themes of digital security and data intelligence, with a special focus on artificial...
First In Brings Aboard Two Operating Partners to Support Cybersecurity
(PRWEB) First In™ announced its team’s expansion to include two new operating partners, Lenore Karafa and Patrick Metke.
Tidal among top cybersecurity products unveiled at Black Hat 2022
(CSO ONLINE) Here are some of the most interesting new products launched at Black Hat USA 2022, including zero trust, extended detection and response (XDR), and a host of other threat and vulnerability management offerings.
Supply Chain Security Startup Phylum Wins the First Black Hat Innovation Spotlight
(DARKREADING) Up-and-coming companies shoot their shot in a new feature introduced at the 25th annual cybersecurity conference.
Optiv Highlights Phylum and Immuta as Shaping the Future of Cybersecurity
Optiv Future Points spotlighted First In portfolio companies Phylum and Immuta in a recent white paper that identifies major evolving cybersecurity themes and the key innovators providing solutions in those areas.
Phylum Raises $15 Million to Proactively Defend the Open-Source Supply Chain
(PRNEWSWIRE) Phylum announces $15 million in Series A funding led by ClearSky, with contributions from Atlassian Ventures, SixThirty Ventures, First In™ and TechOperators.
Zero Trust: The Regulation Driving Market Growth and Innovation
28 March 2022 By Brian Mongeau, Principal at First In Zero trust is now a central cybersecurity concept at the intersection of Western governments’ national security policies and private sector digital security practices. Though the idea had been slowly...
Shift5 Captures Multiple-Award, IDIQ Contract for U.S. Air Force Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS)
(PRESS RELEASE) Shift5 has been awarded a multiple-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract to compete for orders under a $950,000,000 ceiling for DoD's JADC2.
Emerging Themes in Cybersecurity – 2022
15 February 2022 By The First In Team In 2022, we believe there will be significant innovation and opportunity in now core cybersecurity sectors that were “new” just a few years ago. These include zero trust, counter-phishing and cloud security. At the...
Shift5 raises $50M in Series B
(TECHCRUNCH) Shift5’s latest round of funding lands just a few months after its $20 million Series A raise, buoyed by several million-dollar deals last year during which the company doubled its headcount.
Appaegis Raises $7.7M in Seed Funding
(BUSINESSWIRE) Appaegis Inc., a leading Data Centric Zero Trust access security company, announced that it raised $7.7M in seed funding.
Base Operations Raises $3M in Seed 2 Funding
(FINSMES) Base Operations, a Washington, DC-based global threat-intelligence platform for enterprise security departments of multinationals, raised $3m in Seed 2 funding.
Adlumin Secures $25 Million in Series B Funding
(BUSINESSWIRE) The cybersecurity company secures its $25M Series B funding that will support its strategic shift to a channel go-to-market strategy.
Shift5, Ex-NSA Hackers Score $20 Million To Defend Planes, Trains And Tanks From Cyber Sabotage
(FORBES) Shift5 warns America’s transport and weapons systems are vulnerable, claiming it has the best people in the world - former members of an elite NSA hacking unit - to protect them.
First In Announces Initial Closing of Fund I to Invest in Cybersecurity
(PRWEB) Today, First In, the venture capital firm focused on supporting mission-driven founders in cybersecurity and dual-use technologies, announced the initial close of First In Ventures Fund I (“Fund I”).
Morning Consult valued at over $1 billion following new funding round
(AXIOS) Morning Consult, the Washington, D.C.-based research and polling firm, has raised a $60 million Series B round that values the company at over $1 billion.
To Stem Suicide and Sexual Assault, the Air Force Dons Headsets
(NY TIMES) Officials are hoping that an immersive virtual reality experience, including with Moth + Flame, aimed at getting airmen to intervene will succeed where years of traditional training have failed.
What Kind of Entrepreneurs Can Prevent the Next Colonial Hack
By Reed Simmons, MBA associate at First In, and Renny McPherson, managing partner of First In Two weeks ago, at gas stations along the US east coast, the tangible effects of cyber attacks came into sharp relief. Over the last year, there have been three major...
Immuta raised $90M to automate data access control
(VENTUREBEAT) Immuta says it will use the investment — which brings the startup’s total raised to date to $169 million — to expand the size of its workforce, acquire new customers, and further develop its products.
Emerging Themes in Cybersecurity – 2021
By Renny McPherson and Dr. Josh Lospinoso The cyber security landscape is evolving rapidly as the attack surface for cyber attack grows exponentially due to mega-trends in how people live today: more devices, more digital everything, more open source, more...
Base Operations raises $2.2 million to modernize physical enterprise security – TechCrunch
(TECHCRUNCH) Base Operations just closed their $2.2 million seed funding round and will use the money to capitalize on its recent launch of a street-level threat mapping platform for use in supporting enterprise security operations...
Army Hires Company To Develop Cyber Defenses For Its Strykers After The Vehicles Got Hacked
(THE DRIVE) It first emerged more than a year ago that “adversaries” had launched successful cyber attacks against these armored vehicles.
Adlumin Secures $6 Million in Series A Funding
(BUSINESSWIRE) Adlumin received Series A funding that will secure its expansion in the financial sector.
Phylum’s Next-Gen Machine Learning Prevents Open Source Supply Chain Attacks
(PRWEB) Phylum, a DevSecOps startup committed to derisking the open-source ecosystem, announced today the launch of their first software tool. The tool, also ...
Immuta CEO on Privacy Protection
(THE HILL) The growing prevalence of online services and apps marketing to young demographics is downright scary.
The Rise, Ubiquity and Vulnerability of Open Source Software
By Renny McPherson, managing partner of First In and Matthew Dulaney, director of operations (summer associate) at First In. Open source software is ubiquitous today. That’s a good thing. But it wasn’t always clear open source would win. Reviewing the history...
Adlumin Patent for Core Banking System Security
Adlumin received a patent for systems and methods of anomaly detection on core banking platforms, solidifying its mark on the financial industry.
Intel Capital leads $40M investment in data privacy startup Immuta
Privacy is a growing concern for consumers and lawmakers around the world. It is also a growing headache for businesses of all sizes that must comply with a raft of new data rules, including Europe's GDPR regime and...
Shift5 wins Phase II SBIR contract from the USAF
US-based cybersecurity company Shift5 has been contracted by the US Air Force (USAF) for the Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) programme.
Adlumin Surpasses 50 Financial Institutions and Counting
Adlumin celebrates passing 50 financial institutions customers as the company continues to grow its security and compliance automation platform.
James Murdoch’s Firm Is Among First to Invest in Morning Consult
James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems is making an investment in market research startup Morning Consult, known for its surveys and modernizing political polling.
Why Technical Debt Matters to Business Executives
“Shipping first time code is like going into debt. A little debt speeds development so long as it is paid back promptly with a rewrite… The danger occurs when the debt is not repaid. Every minute spent on not-quite-right code counts as interest on that debt. Entire...
Swimlane Acquires Syncurity: SOAR, Incident Response, Managed Security Converge – MSSP Alert
Swimlane acquires Syncurity. The deal converges SOAR, incident response, case management & managed security services. Still, MSP- & MSSP friendly rivals like Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks Demisto & Sophos loom.
Lockheed Martin Ventures and NextGen Venture Partners Invest in RunSafe Security
RunSafe Security, the pioneer of a patented process to immunize software from cyber attacks without developer friction, today announced a...
Interfolio sells to Insight Venture Partners – Washington Business Journal
The company didn’t disclose terms, but a source pegged the price at more than $100 million.
American Well acquires Avizia, plans to expand acute care services
This morning telehealth company American Well announced that it will be acquiring fellow telemedicine company Avizia in late Q2 for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to help American Well grow its acute care capabilities, which Avizia specializes in. The deal...
Earnest, An Online Student Lender, Bought By Navient For $155 Million
Financial technology start-up Earnest has agreed to be acquired by student loan servicing giant Navient for $155 million in cash, the companies said on Wednesday.
Baltimore’s RedOwl acquired by cybersecurity firm owned by Raytheon
RedOwl, a Baltimore-based cybersecurity analytics startup, has been acquired by a Raytheon-owned firm in a deal that investors and business leaders say proves the region's value as fertile ground for growing companies that can compete with the likes of Silicon Valley.