Our Investment in Valid Network
Today we are pleased to announce our seed investment in Valid Network. The company provides full lifecycle security and assurance solutions for blockchain business applications. Valid’s mission is to help companies adopt blockchain technology with confidence, and we are thrilled to help them execute on this plan.
Part of the overall investment philosophy at Ten Eleven is to identify emerging technologies and assess the need for security layers on those platforms. For example, we recently invested in Immuta, a company that provides an automated data governance and privacy layer to data access. There, we saw a need for a new kind of compliance and security filter on an emerging and rapidly growing technology use case. Another example is that of Twistlock, a company that created a new security layer for containers, combining vulnerability management, compliance, and runtime defense. We invested in Twistlock with the knowledge that Kubernetes did not offer enough native security for developers to trust the ecosystem. Twistlock gave developers the confidence to adopt this new technology. With Valid, we again see the opportunity to provide a new security approach for an emerging technology.
Valid is creating the security layer that will help more companies deploy blockchain business applications in their organization. It may be thought of metaphorically as a “BAF” – a “blockchain application firewall,” reinventing an old concept (the firewall) in an entirely new context.
At its essence, blockchain is a new kind of database that can bring many benefits, a way of enhancing trust between participants in a transaction that can, consequently, reduce friction and bring many new efficiencies. We believe that blockchain adoption (as referred to as distributed ledger technology) will continue to grow, and new use-cases will continue to surface. Indeed, COVID-19 and the increased need for supply chain traceability has already illuminated new potential use cases. Some people think that blockchain is inherently secure, but there are many potential vulnerabilities, including in the development and deployment of code. Malicious actors can also attack blockchain business applications. Valid protects blockchain business applications from development to production, combining code review, documentation, and traceability with monitoring and alerts for compliance and breaches.
From our first meetings, we have been impressed by founders Kfir Nissan and Gilad Eisenberger. Their identification for the need for blockchain security and assurance solutions comes from their own experience developing applications within this technology. The founders have built a smart, energetic team of researchers and developers, and built strong relationships within the blockchain developer ecosystem. Now is the time to bring their enhanced solution to the increasing numbers of blockchain initiatives being pursued at enterprises worldwide. We are excited to help them do so and look forward to assisting them in building their business.
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