Celebrating 20 Years of Groundbreaking Achievements by Vinnie Liu, Bishop Fox, and the Fox Den

On behalf of our team here at Forgepoint Capital, I’m thrilled to congratulate Vinnie Liu and Bishop Fox on the company’s 20-year anniversary. The company’s longevity, growth, and continuous market leadership throughout two decades of massive digital transformation and fundamental shifts in cybersecurity and AI is nothing short of remarkable.  

It’s hard to believe it has been six years since Forgepoint proudly led Bishop Fox’s $25M Series A round in February 2019. At the time, the company had been successfully bootstrapped for 13 years, achieving strong customer relationships with 25% of the Fortune 100 and becoming a market leader in pen testing- all without any outside funding. However, market demand was outgrowing the team’s ability to meet client needs as a pure consultancy firm. We were excited to invest in the future of offensive security testing by supporting co-founders Vinnie Liu and Francis Brown in their latest vision: developing cutting-edge attack surface analysis and pen testing technology for enterprise scale.  

A Look Back at Six Years of Progress and Partnership 

Here are highlights of Bishop Fox’s success over the past six years since we partnered: 

• 2020: Launched Cosmos, a continuous offensive security solution. 

• 2021: Tripled ARR and recorded record-setting customer growth. 

• July 2022: $75M Series B round led by Carrick Capital Partners to grow Bishop Fox’s team of offensive security experts and expanding its award-winning Cosmos platform.  

• November 2022: Additional $46M in Series B funding from WestCap with participation from NextEquity Partners and Rockpool Capital, extending total Series B funding to $129M.  

• February 2024: For the third year in a row, Cosmos maintained a strong leadership position in the Maturity/Platform Play quadrant of the GigaOm Radar Report for Attack Surface Management (ASM), in addition to picking up a Fast Mover accolade. 

• February 2024: Launched Cosmos Application Penetration Testing, a new fully managed service for pen testing business-critical custom applications.  

• October 2024: Announced Cosmos for ServiceNow, a major partnership enabling customers to effortlessly sync validated exposures from the Bishop Fox Cosmos portal into their ServiceNow® environments. 

• EOY 2024: Achieved nearly 60% ARR growth and an over 200% year-over-year increase in partner bookings- beating targets by more than 70% while expanding its European presence. Forgepoint Advisory Council member James Mobley, former President & CEO of Neohapsis (acq. by Cisco where he served as SVP), also joined the Bishop Fox advisory board. 

Along the way, Forgepoint has been glad to collaborate with Vinnie and the Bishop Fox team, working closely to fill key leadership roles, connect the company with customers and partners, and refine its long-term vision and business plan. 

The Iron Man Model of Offensive Security and Pen Testing 

Today, Bishop Fox is the undisputed market leader in continuous offensive security and penetration testing services. The award-winning Cosmos platform offers enterprise customers a nation-state caliber attack platform, acting as a force multiplier for Bishop Fox’s expert team of consultants and pen testers – which remains one of the industry’s largest concentrations of offensive security expertise. Vinnie often talks of the Cosmos as being like an Iron Man suit around the team, amplifying and augmenting the brilliant minds and people inside. This combination of advanced technology and managed white-glove services creates a unique and valuable offering: continuous external attack surface profiling and perimeter testing to identify and resolve critical high-risk issues.  

A Customer-Centric Approach 

Bishop Fox continues to thrive, driven by superior technology, deep expertise, and an unwavering commitment to a customer-first culture. Clients benefit from a dedicated, hands-on team of highly respected experts, ensuring exceptional service and security outcomes. 

The proof: Bishop Fox has completed over 20,000 projects in the past six years and now serves more than 1,000 customers including Amazon, Change Healthcare, Google, Equifax, John Deere, and Zoom, with an impressive NPS of 86 and 97% of customers reporting their intention to repeat. It is a true global player trusted by more than 25% of the Fortune 100, including half of the Fortune 10, eight of the top 10 global tech companies, and all of the top global media companies. 

Industry Leadership 

The Bishop Fox team has become a respected source for offensive cybersecurity thought leadership and analysis.  Team members regularly share knowledge through conference sessions at DEF CON, Black Hat, and RSAC, discover and disclose new critical and high-risk vulnerabilities, and produce tools, research, and insights for the broader cybersecurity industry. The company has published more than 20 open-source tools and 50 security advisories in the last five years.  

Driving all this impressive output is a core tenet of the company’s culture: the importance of showing by doing and giving back to the community.   

Looking Ahead: Bishop Fox and the Future of Offensive Security  

As we look towards the future, Bishop Fox’s expertise and capabilities resonate more than ever. Organizations and regulators increasingly see value in stopping breaches and compromises before they occur. The company is well positioned to capitalize on the rising demand for preventative security by helping customers get ahead of high-risk issues.  

Congratulations to Vinnie and everyone in the Fox Den for twenty years of excellence! Here’s to your continued growth as the leaders in offensive cybersecurity and pen testing.