Bot mitigation company Human Security raises $100M

Human Security, a bot mitigation and fraud detection company for enterprises, has raised $100 million in a growth round of funding led by WestCap.

Bots have become more sophisticated through the years, adapting their behaviors to be more like people — this can lead to so-called “click fraud,” for example, whereby bots automatically tap on pay-per-click (PPC) ads to increase revenue for a website.

Rise of the bots

Human Security, which rebranded from White Ops back in March, offers various products designed to protect applications, advertisements, and marketing investments from such abuse, using machine learning and other threat intelligence techniques to identity malicious bots that mimic human behavior. Recent data suggests that 73% of enterprises lose 4% of their online revenue to ad fraud each year and, accordingly, Human Security said it has seen its revenue growth rate double over the past year as companies struggle to thwart automated attacks.

“The bot problem is one of the most important cybersecurity problems of modern times and verifying humanity is fundamental to the security and integrity of the internet as we know it,” Human Security CEO and cofounder Tamer Hassan noted in a blog post. “Botnets have become one of the most prolific modern attack tools — our mantra is simple – stop the bots, stop the threats.”

Founded out of New York in 2012, Human Security was acquired back in 2020 by Goldman Sachs’ merchant banking division, in partnership with ClearSky Security and NightDragon. Its latest cash injection included follow-on investments from NightDragon among other existing backers.