100X.VC-backed Cybersecurity marketplace BugBase raises US$500K in funding led by 2am VC

Bangalore-based BugBase, a startup that operates a marketplace for ethical hackers, has raised US$500,000 in a funding round led by 2am VC, along with the participation from Finsight Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, and SAT Industries.

The round also saw participation from marquee angel investors including, Neeraj Roy (Founder, Hungama Entertainment), Nilesh Sangoi (Founding CTO and ex-CEO Meru Cabs), Puneet Deora (MD, Deoras Group), Kushal Khandwala (Director, KIFS Group), Anoop Mathur (AM Capital & Founder, CORE Media), among others.

Founded by Dhruva Goyal and Kathan Desai, two 20-year-old motivated young entrepreneurs who dropped out of college to pursue their entrepreneurial dream full-time. They are currently hosting Bug Bounty programs and PTaaS (Pentest-as-a-service) programs for companies like boAt and ImpactGuru.

BugBase is a one-of-a-kind marketplace of ethical hackers, which assists organizations in staying cyber safe by providing an all-in-one platform for continuous and comprehensive security testing.

"Bugbase intends to give a large community of ethical hackers access to an optimized platform that has already begun to revolutionize India's cybersecurity market," said Dhruva Goyal, Founder & CEO of BugBase. "We aim to spread awareness about cybersecurity among organizations and businesses likewise and hope to facilitate fruitful interactions between ethical hackers and companies," Dhruva adds.

BugBase’s Pentest as a Service (PtaaS) platform, connects companies to the right security researchers and helps deliver the real-time insights you need to mitigate risks and innovate securely. Payment gateway vulnerabilities, account takeovers, authentication flaws, and database and credential leaks are just a handful of bugs reported on Bugbase that are actively remediated and reported by a team of handpicked testers, it said.

"Businesses face all types of breaches, and these vulnerabilities pose a great risk to sensitive data. Therefore a need for an integrated testing platform arose. Our platform's success in India is based on a commitment to excellent service quality and compliance requirements, as well as a desire to foster sustainability and innovation," said Kathan Desai, Founder of BugBase.

Speaking on the investment, Hershel Mehta, General Partner of 2am VC, said, "We believe that the youth of India will play a significant role in the future growth of ethical hacking as a service - especially as the Web3 world yearns for decentralisation."

"The BugBase team is organised and amazingly driven by 20-year-old ethical hackers who demonstrate community leadership and a burning desire to bring ethical hacking mainstream. I would not bet against their hunger and commitment," Hershel adds.

Ninad Karpe, Partner at 100X.VC, said, "The rapid digital transformation across industries has made businesses vulnerable to cyber attacks. Bugbase is adopting an interesting approach of looking at the threats from hackers' perspective and helping businesses efficiently prevent cyber attacks. We are glad that we are backing them in their journey. They have a lot to offer."

Today's relentless cyber threats demand a security strategy that is just as unabated and proactive. BugBase's platform, unlike traditional security platforms, takes into consideration the agile methodology adopted by businesses nowadays.

It allows an organization to get an early baseline assessment followed by regular pentests, which helps integrate security testing into the process alongside the existing testing, rather than being an afterthought or extra step.

Looking at this, Bugbase said it aims to promote better security practices among organizations and has certainly set its sights on dominating the cybersecurity market with hopes of leading India into a secure future.

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