SafeStack closes $2.3m NZD pre-seed round
It's been a massive year for SafeStack, and today, I’m thrilled to share that we’ve raised a pre-seed round of $2.3m NZD to help us bring our community-centric approach to cyber security education to the world.
We’re honored to be backed by a strategic group of New Zealand and Australian investors led by Australian venture capital firm Jelix Ventures, including Carthona Capital, K1W1, New Zealand Growth Capital Partners’ Aspire NZ Seed Fund, and NAB Ventures.
Launched in July 2020, SafeStack provides a community-focused online education platform for software development teams worldwide. Combining high quality qualifications to support the entire software development lifecycle, hands-on labs, and an interactive community, the platform has reached over 60 organizations in its first 12 months and achieved half a million NZD in annual recurring revenue. This investment puts SafeStack in an ideal position to build on our early traction and expand the team to accelerate our international growth.
It’s never been more necessary for organisations to be secure online, yet security education remains out of reach for many due to cost, complexity, or minimum seat requirements. We’re looking forward to changing that.
So, what does this raise mean for SafeStack?
With a growing team of 14 specialists split over New Zealand and Australia, SafeStack is dedicated to growing security skills and culture across entire engineering teams.
We're committed to building security through the entire SDLC and including all the roles we rely on to build great software.
If you’ve tried our Secure Development program, you’ll know we take a different approach to this type of training. Instead of targeting specific programming languages and technologies, we teach secure design and architectural practices that integrate earlier into the software development lifecycle, securing a wider range of teams and technical environments — approaches recommended by the latest drafts of the OWASP Top 10 and NIST 800-218.
With a simple to navigate subscription model — charged per learner, per year — it’s easy for entire teams to start weaving security into their development practices, whatever their size, maturity, or budget.
Making application security training available to as many teams worldwide as possible is super important to us, and it always will be.
We’re creating a security movement based on inclusion and empowerment — not fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
We’re as committed as ever to creating a sustainable security culture based on empowerment, not fear. Our approach helps teams build the confidence and peace of mind to innovate, grow, and go faster, safe in the knowledge that they’re building security into their working methods.
Finally, some words of thanks
To our early supporters, mentors, advisors, and investors — your belief and gentle encouragement is phenomenal, and we love having you as part of our community.Thank you to those companies that have already joined us as customers. Your support means the world to us; we’re proud to work with you.
To our growing range of partners worldwide, thank you for being our champions and helping raise our mission to a global audience. And to those companies we have yet to meet, we look forward to saying hello and making you and your team into the cyber security superheroes we know you can be. We'd love to hear from you whether you’re a potential partner or a team in need.