Bugcrowd Achieves $1 Billion Valuation Following Latest Funding Round in Bug Bounty Industry

Bugcrowd, a leader in crowdsourced cybersecurity solutions, has announced the successful acquisition of $102 million in new funding, underscoring the rapid growth and mainstream adoption of ethical hacking to identify vulnerabilities.

This funding round, led by General Catalyst, values Bugcrowd at over $1 billion, according to insider sources. The investment will enable Bugcrowd to accelerate its global expansion, innovate its AI-powered platform, and pursue strategic acquisitions.

“Customers are increasingly choosing Bugcrowd as they seek alternatives to legacy vendors in the crowdsourced security space, which often suffer from slow triage times, confusing pricing models, and limited support options,” stated Bugcrowd CEO Dave Gerry in an exclusive interview.

The crowdsourced security market is projected to expand from $90 million in 2019 to over $135 million by 2024, with organizations increasingly seeking external talent to enhance their internal security efforts. Bugcrowd has capitalized on this growth by adding over 200 new customers in the past year.

Offering solutions such as penetration testing-as-a-service (PTaaS) and bug bounty programs, Bugcrowd enables continuous testing of applications, networks, and systems through a crowdsourced model. This approach effectively leverages diverse researcher talent to identify vulnerabilities that traditional testing methods may overlook.

Bugcrowd's proprietary CrowdMatch technology utilizes AI to connect researchers with clients based on specific needs, significantly boosting productivity. Additionally, the company has integrated seamlessly with major developer platforms like GitHub to facilitate ongoing crowdsourced testing throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

“In 2024, we aim to surpass our 2023 performance and equip customers with real-time insights through our leading AI-powered crowdsourced security platform,” Gerry added.

With this fresh influx of capital and strong market momentum, Bugcrowd is positioned to disrupt the penetration testing and vulnerability management sectors, traditionally dominated by consulting giants like Cloudflare and Crowdstrike. By integrating crowd talent with AI and machine learning (ML), Bugcrowd can enhance its testing capabilities and offer continuous monitoring across the entire attack surface.

This funding round saw participation from General Catalyst, along with existing investors Rally Ventures and Costanoa Ventures. Bugcrowd plans to utilize these funds to further enhance its platform and accelerate its global growth.