Socket secures $40M to combat next-generation software supply chain security attacks led by industry titans Abstract Ventures, Elad Gil, and a16z

Socket safeguards companies from software supply chain attacks by detecting and preventing threats in open source code and empowering developers to secure their applications and critical services against malware and other security risks.

San Francisco, California, Oct. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — With over 90% of modern applications built on open source, security has become more critical than ever. Traditional Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools are struggling to keep up with the rising tide of supply chain attacks. Helping to tackle the problem, the #1 platform protecting software from supply chain attacks Socket, which is today announcing a $40M funding round, is laser-focused on proactively monitoring open source packages for malicious behaviors like backdoors, typo-squatting, and obfuscated code.

The Socket Series B $40M funding round was led by Abstract Ventures, with participation from Elad Gil, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and a stellar group of angel investors including Bret Taylor (OpenAI), Phil Venables (Google), Scott Johnston (Docker), Christina Cacioppo (Vanta), Ann Mather (Pixar, Alphabet, Netflix, Airbnb), and Tobias Lütke (Shopify), among others. This latest round brings Socket’s total funding to $65M, fueling its mission to modernize security for open source software and build out its team across engineering, product, and design.

The Socket team is protecting software from supply chain attacks

“We’ve seen incredible momentum over the past year,” said Feross Aboukhadijeh, founder and CEO of Socket. “Our technology has made it possible for leading AI, B2B, and finance companies to switch from legacy SCA solutions like Snyk to Socket. We’re not just catching vulnerabilities — we’re detecting and blocking malicious threats in real time.”

Socket Dashboard for Organization Alerts: Alerts detected within default branch of your organization’s repositories

A New Standard for Software Supply Chain Security
Socket’s platform now supports six programming languages, including newly added Java and Ruby, and handles critical use cases like license enforcement and reachability analysis — making it a comprehensive replacement for legacy tools.

“Attackers are evolving their supply chain attacks and legacy tools aren’t catching them,” said Jason Clinton, CISO at Anthropic. “Socket’s real-time threat detection helps strengthen our security posture, even from zero-day supply chain attacks.”

Socket Package Detection Details and Scoring

“As generative AI drives unprecedented speed in software development, the risk of malicious or vulnerable packages slipping through is higher than ever,” said Amjad Masad, Founder and CEO at Replit. “Socket provides preventative protection, catching threats before they can compromise organizations and enabling developers to innovate without sacrificing security.”

“If you haven’t explored Socket yet, now’s the time,” said Dev Akhawe, Head of Security at Figma.

Rapid Innovation Driving Success
In the last 12 months, Socket has shipped groundbreaking features, including AI-powered threat detection for software dependencies in six programming language ecosystems which have enabled it to detect and block over 100 software supply chain attacks every week. This pace of innovation has been key to Socket’s rapid growth, with the company now protecting over 7,500 organizations and 300,000 GitHub repositories.

“Socket is revolutionizing how companies secure their software,” said Ramtin Naimi, Founder and Managing Partner at Abstract Ventures. “As organizations face increasing software supply chain threats, Socket’s preventative and developer-friendly approach is exactly what’s needed. Socket’s ability to rip-and-replace legacy SCA tools has already made Socket the go-to solution for leading companies that want to massively up-level their application security. We’re proud to lead their Series B and support them in their mission to make open source software safer for everyone.”

The Future of Software Security
“Socket is taking an entirely new approach to one of the hardest problems in security in a stagnant part of the industry,” said Elad Gil, investor and co-founder at Color Health. “It’s rare to see a team ship this fast and deliver such a meaningful impact.

Feross Aboukhadijeh, founder and CEO of Socket

With fresh capital, Socket plans to accelerate its product development and expand its team. The company is actively hiring for roles in engineering, product, and sales as it scales to meet the growing demand for Socket’s next-gen application security platform. “We’re building a world-class team to tackle one of the most urgent challenges in software today,” said Feross Aboukhadijeh. 

As supply chain attacks grow more frequent and sophisticated, companies need to move beyond reactive security measures. Socket’s mission is clear: to stop supply chain threats before they’re inside your organization, providing the peace of mind that developers and security teams need to focus on what they do best — building great products.

For more information, visit https://socket.dev and join the team that’s reshaping the future of software security.

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Notes to the editor
Media images can be found here. 

About Socket
Socket is a developer-first security platform that protects your most critical apps from software supply chain attacks. Socket was built by prolific security experts whose open source software is installed over 1 billion times per month. Customers include top organizations in tech, media, manufacturing, and finance.

CONTACT: For further information please contact the Socket press office: Bilal Mahmood on b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com or +44 (0) 771 400 7257.