Private equity firm KKR has led $90 million in growth funding for NetSPI, a provider of enterprise penetration testing and attack surface management, with participation from Ten Eleven Ventures.

“The reality is that cyber security attacks today are inevitable and put organizations at grave risk,” said NetSPI president and chief executive officer Aaron Shilts. “At NetSPI, we strive to stay one step ahead of hackers, breaches, and bad actors by focusing on prevention-based security techniques. Rooted in the founding tenets of the company, our goals are purposely aggressive to help our clients adapt to the constantly evolving threat landscape.”

“Our clients rely on us to help secure their ever-evolving attack surface by leveraging our expertise in cloud, red team, application, and network security,” continued Shilts. “This investment from KKR and Ten Eleven Ventures allows NetSPI to better meet this demand while simultaneously fueling growth and innovation as a leader in the booming cyber security market. With our investors’ support, NetSPI will continue to transform the industry with a focus on attack surface management, enterprise security testing, and vulnerability management.”

Ben Pederson, principal at KKR, said, “NetSPI has built a differentiated suite of tech-enabled services and test orchestration and reporting software that is not only enhancing cyber security for complex global enterprises across a wide range of industries, but is simultaneously disrupting the traditional penetration testing market in order for these enterprises to continuously test their applications, networks, and cloud infrastructures at scale. We are excited to invest in NetSPI’s growth as they build and deliver these critically important offensive security solutions.”

Jake Heller, head of KKR’s technology growth team in the Americas, added, “Aaron and his team have a deep appreciation for the needs of their customers and the increasing demand for best-in-class, tech-enabled cyber security systems.”

KKR is investing in NetSPI through its Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II. KKR and Ten Eleven Ventures have invested in market-leading cyber security companies including Darktrace, KnowBe4, Ping Identity, Cylance, ForgeRock, and ReliaQuest.

“Penetration testing is a critical component of any enterprise’s security program and will continue to be an important part of compliance and regulatory requirements in the future,” said Mark Hatfield, general partner, Ten Eleven Ventures. “With its deep expertise and automated platform, NetSPI has developed an incredibly effective and efficient approach to penetration testing and attack surface management. We’re thrilled to partner with this exceptional team and look forward to drawing on our cyber security expertise to help NetSPI bring its technology to more companies across the globe.”

Goodwin Procter LLP advised NetSPI on the transaction and Latham & Watkins LLP advised KKR and Ten Eleven Ventures.