Citi Ventures, the venture capital division of Citigroup, has invested $30 million in API security enterprise Traceable, marking a significant stride in securing consumer application programming interfaces (APIs) amidst escalating cyber-attacks. This strategic investment will empower Traceable to bolster its defenses against API-targeted cyber threats, demonstrating Citigroup’s commitment to cyber security.
Traceable was founded in 2019 by tech entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal to counter the rising threats against APIs. Alarmingly, one in four businesses report weekly API attacks, a figure that has surged by 20% over the past year. Such statistics underscore the vital necessity for solutions like Traceable in today’s digital landscape.
API security is often neglected by many companies, resulting in significant vulnerabilities that could expose private data to unauthorized individuals. Robust API security measures are more than a compliance issue – they’re integral to business resilience and long-term sustainability. Lax API security can result in disastrous consequences, ranging from severe data breaches and loss of customer trust to hefty regulatory fines and detrimental business disruptions.
With the uptick in API usage, driven notably by generative AI, modern organizations need to ramp up their security measures.
Citi Ventures boosts Traceable’s API security
Traceable uses AI models to study user data, understand normal API behaviors, and detect anomalies that might hint at cyber threats. By continuously monitoring and modifying these models, the security solution becomes progressively adept at detecting threats, reducing vulnerability, and protecting data.
Competing with major businesses like Salt Security, Cequence, and F5 in the API security space, Traceable reportedly analyses about 500 billion API calls monthly across about 50 clients. Given its strong business trajectory, the company’s income is expected to potentially double within the year, primarily boosted by its enterprise sector client base.
Post-investment, Traceable is estimated to be valued at a substantial $500 million, with a total capital of $110 million. This funding will be used for product advancement, boosting the engineering department, and promoting growth through their partnership program. According to Bansal, although Traceable wasn’t actively hunting for investors, the surge of inbound interest led the company to accept smaller investments to expedite their product and market plans.
