Cyber-security firm Garrison scores record $30m backing

UK cyber-security firm Garrison has secured a record-breaking $30m (£22.9m) cash injection.

The Series B round was led by London investor Dawn Capital, and has become the biggest funding injection for a UK cyber security business by wholly UK backers, since Digital Shadows secured a $26m investment in September 2017.

Founded in 2014, Garrison provides secure web browsing technology to private and public sector employees, allowing them to access web content without any risk of exposing their organisation to cyber-attack.

It works by placing a gap between the internet and the end-user’s device, so that malicious content never reaches the users IT system.

The UK government and military were among the first to benefit from the technology, which is now being adopted by global blue chip organisations across the banking, insurance, media, telecoms and legal sectors.

Garrison was founded by industry veterans David Garfield and Henry Harrison, who previously worked together at national-security specialist Detica and subsequently established the Cyber Security business unit at BAE Systems plc.

CEO Garfield explained the purpose of the companies technology: “Organisations today recognise the ever-growing threat to their most sensitive data and systems posed simply by allowing employees to browse the web, but until now they’ve faced an unhappy choice: restrict web access and allow productivity to suffer, or run the risk of exposure to hackers

“We’ve designed the world’s first truly secure web browser to solve this problem, applying national-security-grade levels of protection to the commercial environment – at an accessible price point – in a way that doesn’t destroy the user experience as employees go about their work,” he added.

Existing investors IP Group plc, BGF and NM Capital also contributed to this latest round, which brings the total raised by Garrison to more than $50m – all from London-based investors.

The funds will be used to expand Garrison’s sales and marketing activities, to grow the company’s engineering team and to enhance the company’s ‘safe web browsing as a service’ cloud offering.

Commenting on the round, Dawn partner Norman Fiore said: “Garrison is taking a radically different approach to security by moving beyond the previous threat-detection paradigm. We see a significant opportunity for Garrison to bring its military-grade technology to major commercial institutions and fundamentally reduce the threat posed by their employees’ everyday web browsing. We’re delighted to support the business in the next phase of its growth.”

Now four years old, the business has a team of more than 50 and has expanded its operations to the US.

Founder Garfield concluded: “The security industry has long suffered from overblown claims and overinflated prices, without ever ensuring organisations remain truly protected from even some of the most basic threats – this is particularly true of web browsing security

“From day one our mission has been developing practical security tools that actually do what they’re supposed to. This funding round marks a key milestone for our business and will help us to transform the day-to-day security of many thousands more organisations worldwide.”