Query.AI Raises $15 mln in Series A Funding to Make Security Investigations Easier Than Ever

Query.AI, an information security startup based in Brookings, has closed a $15 million Series A funding round to change how enterprises use data to conduct security investigations.

The funding round, which brings the total funding raised by Query.AI to almost $20 million, was led by new investor SYN Ventures with participation from existing investors ClearSky Security and South Dakota Equity Partners, who contributed to the success of the $4.6 million seed round. Patrick Heim, a Managing Partner at SYN Ventures who will be joining the startup’s Board of Directors, referred to the firm’s participation by stating:

“Cybersecurity data no longer lives in just one place, it lives in the cloud, with third-party providers, and on-prem. Companies everywhere are struggling to figure out how they can bring security operations capabilities to these disparate environments, and they’re seeing that it’s extremely difficult, costly, inefficient and ineffective to send information in and out of these silos. Query.AI offers the only solution on the market that solves this pervasive problem by leaving the data where it lives, connecting to disparate data sources with APIs, and serving up the ability to access, investigate and respond to the threats in real-time, from one, unified browser interface. The Query.AI offering is truly unique and delivers critical value for security operations teams in every industry.”

Query.AI was founded in 2018 to address the increasing fragmentation of data resulting from the use of multiple platforms by enterprises, which is especially concerning when it comes to data essential to the security of a system. The startup has addressed this issue by developing a security investigations control plane that aggregates data from decentralized systems, without centralizing it, providing powerful and actionable insights that facilitate the security investigation process. Dhiraj Sharan, Query.AI founder and CEO, said in this regard:

“Our platform is a lightweight solution that doesn’t require organizations to centralize data, assign a dedicated engineer for management, or rip and replace any existing, best-of-breed technologies. It is an XDR-enabling connective layer that serves as a data hub to provide direct access to data, where it lives, and helps SOC teams understand data relationships and initiate response actions.”

With about 77% of organizations considering their security engineering efforts unsuccessful at a time when cyber threats are on the rise, the demand for information security platforms has increased exponentially. While many platforms and organizations have started centralizing data, this approach is not only inefficient but also increases the risks of potential data breaches.

Query.AI believes it can help organizations to reduce costs and improve efficiency by taking an approach that doesn’t rely on data centralization but on better data analytics. Important consulting firms like Gartner seem to agree, having named the startup one of its “2021 Cool Vendor in Security Operations” while CRN magazine did the same on its “10 Hottest Cloud Security Startups of 2021” ranking.