The supply chain is one of those things that you don’t hear about unless something has gone wrong — international tariffs makes prices go up for consumer goods, a slowdown with customs causes shipment delays, a boat gets stuck in the Suez Canal, etc. The same can be said about the software supply chain, which covers the entire software lifecycle — from software production to development and deployment.
A lot of the software supply chain is built on or references open source frameworks, so there’s a possibility that a bad actor can use that to their advantage and take control of some specific software during this phase.
Seattle startup Chainguard has created the tools to help ensure software stays secure during this supply chain process. It uses the “zero-trust” cybersecurity strategy to keep software safe as it moves through the gaps within the software supply chain.
On Wednesday, Chainguard announced that it raised $5 million in its seed funding round. VC firm Amplify Partners led the round, with participation from a handful of angel investors. These angel investors included executives from an array of tech companies, including Tailscale, CoreOS, Cisco, Google and more.
As organizations rely on digital solutions more, cybercrime poses a bigger risk. You likely remember the Colonial Pipeline hack from earlier this year. Beyond making headlines, the effects of the hack were felt among real people. Experts predict that software supply chain hacks will only happen more and more frequently, with the EU predicting a 4x increase in these hacks this year. Tech consulting firm Accenture estimates that there is about $5.2 trillion in combined assets that are at risk due to cybercrime.
Chainguard is hoping to get ahead of this increasing demand. The company launched earlier this year, and this new seed round will help give it the funds to get off the ground. Chainguard says it plans to triple in size over the coming months. Right now the company consists of the five founding team members, but Chainguard revealed that it already has 12 new people who have signed offer letters to come on board.
“This funding from Amplify Partners will be critical to helping us grow the team throughout 2022,” Chainguard CEO and co-founder Dan Lorenc wrote in a blog post. “This seed round is just the start of our journey at Chainguard, and we’re deeply thankful for all the support we’ve received from the community and our partners.”
