Elizabeth "Liz" Butwin Mann
Advisor, Board Member
Former Strategy and Growth Leader - Americas Technology Consulting, EY
Executives
A Year in Numbers
AUM
$1B+
M&A Transactions
3
Total Financings by New and Existing Companies
19
Capital Raised by Forgepoint Companies
$280M
Portfolio Company Revenue
$800M
New Team Members
6
New Advisory Council Members, now 103 total
11
VIPs Reached at 16 Community Events
1700+
Our Global Expansion
In October, we launched Forgepoint Capital International, our expansion into Europe, Latin America, and Israel. We welcomed Damien Henault, Michael Cortez, and Jaime Goyarrola to the team, established a new office hub in London with a presence in Paris and Madrid, and created the International Working Group of our Advisory Council to strengthen our global reach and impact. A key part of our strategic alliance with Santander, this milestone underscores our commitment to driving innovation worldwide, leveraging our sector expertise and building on our success with pioneering companies like AlienVault (AT&T), Constella, BehavioSec (LexisNexis Risk Solutions), Lynx, and ReversingLabs.
M&A Milestones
Noname Security, Acquired by Akamai
Akamai acquired Noname Security to enhance its API Security solution and meet growing demand and requirements for APIs.
TruEra, Acquired by Snowflake
TruEra was acquired by Snowflake to bring LLM and ML observability to the AI data cloud.
Concourse Labs, Acquired by Fortinet
Fortinet acquired Concourse Labs to bolster its capabilities managing cloud infrastructure risks across platforms.
New Investments
Nudge Security, $16.5M Seed
Nudge Security, leaders in SaaS and GenAI security, raised $16.5M in Seed funding to accelerate the company’s growth as it meets market demand to combat shadow IT and SaaS sprawl amid the explosive adoption of AI and GenAI tools.
AKA Identity
AKA Identity emerged from stealth with the Clarity Insights Platform to transform and simplify manual and inefficient identity and access management decisions with visibility, intelligence, and action.
Hyperproof
Hyperproof is pioneering in next-generation automated security assurance and compliance operations, empowering teams and organizations to optimize GRC with a fully integrated risk management solution.
“When we first invested four and a half years ago, it was clear Kyle, Chris, and Huntress were on to something – to bring enterprise-grade cybersecurity to the vast yet largely ignored market of millions of SMBs. The progress they’ve made since then is astounding – both headcount and ARR increased over 20x. As they continue to expand their platform capabilities and scale into new geographies, they’ve maintained that same maniacal focus on customers and partners. I have never seen a more mission-focused team.”
Ernie Bio Managing Director, Forgepoint Capital
America's Best Startup Employers
Congratulations to 1Kosmos, CyberCube, Hyperproof, Lumu, Noname Security, and Rafay for making the Forbes list of America’s Best Startup Employers!
Advisory Council
In 2024, the Forgepoint Global Advisory Council surpassed 100 members!
We are grateful for the continued industry leadership demonstrated by our advisors- leading cybersecurity, AI, and technology practitioners, seasoned operators, and key decision-makers across private and public sectors. They provide our entrepreneurs with the right expertise and connections to succeed.
New Advisors
Eleven more industry leaders joined our Global Advisory Council to help foster critical innovation.
Hazel Diez Castaño
Global CISO, Santander
Former Global CISO, Dufry Group; Head of Security Consultancy, Architecture and Design, Aviva; Senior Consultant, Deloitte
Executives
Don Duet
Public Cloud Strategy Lead, Fortinet
Former CEO & Co-Founder, Concourse Labs (acq. Fortinet); President & COO, Vapor.io; Technology Division Partner, Goldman Sachs
Executives
Dominic Fortescue
Advisor, Board Member, Senior Visiting Fellow, Kings College London
Former UK Government Chief Security Officer and senior national security official; Former Partner, Cyber Security, Financial Services, EY
Government
Justin Foster
Chief Technology Officer, Forescout Technologies Inc.
Former CTO & Co-Founder, Cysiv (acq. Forescout)
Founders
Brian T. Geffert
Principle, Cybersecurity Services, KPMG
Former Global CISO, KPMG
Executives
Paul Lanzi
Founder & Principal Consultant, Idenovate
Former COO and Co-Founder, Remediant (acq. Netwrix)
Founders
Dr. Leila Nova
CISO, IberoLatam, Allianz
Former Enterprise Risk Partner, Swift
Executives
Hector Saldaña
Co-founder & Sr. Managing Partner, Inventity & Sr. Advisor, Ballistic Ventures
Executives
Sandip Wadje
Managing Director and Global Head of Emerging Technology Operational Risks & Intelligence, BNP Paribas
Executives
Tobias Yergin
Co-Founder, EAIGG: Ethical AI Governance Group
Executives
Impact Awards
At our Fall Advisory Council Meeting and Dinner in November, we announced the winners of this year’s Forgepoint Impact Awards:
Aaron Hughes: Catalyst
Elena Kvochko: Trailblazer
Jerry Kowalski: All-star
Thank you, Aaron, Elena, and Jerry, for your leadership, support, and commitment to innovation.
New Hires
Damien Henault
Managing Director, Forgepoint Capital International
Michael Cortez
Partner, Forgepoint Capital International
Jaime Goyarrola
Chief Financial Officer, Forgepoint Capital International
Jimmy Park
Senior Associate
Kathryn Shih
Venture Partner
Andres Andreu
Venture Consultant
Promotions
Congratulations on these well-deserved promotions!
Reynaldo Kirton, Principal. Rey is instrumental in shaping our investment strategies across data security, distributed infrastructure, risk management, and more.
Casilda Angulo, Vice President. Casilda is pivotal in deepening our understanding of AI security, identity, SaaS security, and more while advancing our global footprint into key markets.
Kathryn Shih, Venture Partner. Kathryn is a key leader defining Forgepoint’s AI strategy while ensuring portfolio success applying AI.
Our Brand and Website
In May, we launched our refreshed brand and new website. Cybersecurity has changed significantly since Forgepoint’s founding as a sector-focused VC firm in 2015, with innovations in cloud technologies, internet-connected devices, and generative AI impacting every aspect of business and personal life. As we’ve grown our team and evolved our thinking, it became clear that we needed to refine how we convey our mission, vision, values, and approach to better “show, not tell” what we do and believe- and the incredible innovators we support.
Forgepoint Forward
In Q4 of 2024 we launched Forgepoint Forward, a quarterly series capturing critical categories for innovation and investment while spotlighting the startup landscape. Created for entrepreneurs, information security leaders, and the broader technology community, each report combines extensive primary and secondary market research along with expert opinions and insights from our community of CISOs, CEOs, executives, and Advisory Council members.
Our inaugural report explores the state of the emerging AI Governance market.
TIPS: Threat Intelligence Portfolio Spotlight
View all PerspectivesWe released twelve editions of TIPS, our monthly series examining the latest cybersecurity threats and providing actionable insights for industry decision-makers.
TIPS #21: The Disinformation/ Misinformation Dual Threat
Shane Shook
October 28, 2024
- Blog Post
- TIPS
TIPS #19: Shift Left for Finance
Shane Shook
August 26, 2024
- Blog Post
- TIPS
TIPS #16: How can companies stay secure in the age of generative AI-powered innovation?
Shane Shook
May 31, 2024
- Blog Post
- TIPS
The Forgecast®
View all PerspectivesWe released eight more episodes of The Forgecast® in 2024, our podcast featuring the who’s who and what’s what in cybersecurity, AI, and infrastructure software.
News
Changing Concepts of Identity Underscore ‘Perfect Storm’ of Cyber-Risk (Dark Reading)
March 21, 2024
- News
The Cybersecurity Market: Balancing Risk and Reward (BankInfoSecurity)
Next-Generation Identity Platforms to See Sizeable Adoption (ISMG)
Investors see a test for loss-making startups in Rubrik’s IPO (PitchBook)
Cybersecurity Startups Face Down Rounds, Sale Pressures (The Information)
Cybersecurity unicorn Huntress hits $100M revenue milestone ahead of IPO (Pitchbook)
Bylines
How Cybersecurity Drives Innovation in Critical Infrastructure (Nasdaq)
Alberto Yépez
January 29, 2024
- Blog Post
Market Making and Market Taking: Deciphering the Coming Wave of M&A (Nasdaq)
How to Conquer the Chaos of SaaS Sprawl and Shadow AI (Nasdaq)
Go-To-Market Partnerships: Driving Innovation Through Collaboration (Forbes)
Podcasts
Lecciones de Trabajar con Steve Jobs para Ser un CEO Excepcional (Startupeable)
September 4, 2024
- News
Navigating Cyber Trends with Alberto Yepéz (Afternoon Cyber Tea)
Unleashing the Power of Differential Privacy: Balancing Data Security and Innovation with Andrew McClure (CTRL+F)
Forging the Future of Security with Reynaldo Kirton (SecureTalk)
Highlights and memories from 2024!
Thank you to all who joined us and continue to support the Forgepoint community.
Our Commitment to ESG
Our commitment to ESG starts with a diverse team passionate about creating positive societal change. As investors, we abide by responsible investment principles. We factor ESG and DEI into what we do and invite our portfolio companies to do the same.
