BugBase, a platform for ethical hackers, has announced raising $500,000 in a funding round led by 2am VC. The funding round saw participation from Finsight Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, SAT Industries and multiple angels like Neeraj Roy (Hungama Entertainment), Nilesh Sangoi ( Meru Cabs), Puneet Deora (Deoras Group), Kushal Khandwala (KIFS Group), Anoop Mathur (AM Capital, CORE Media), among other investors.
According to the official statement, BugBase intends to use the funding to grow its engineering, security, and business development teams in order to increase its product offerings.
“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 decentralization. The BugBase team is organized and amazingly driven by twenty-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 Mehta, General Partner, 2am VC
A unique marketplace offered by young entrepreneurs
Based in Bengaluru, BugBase is a unique marketplace of ethical hackers, which assists companies in staying cyber secure by providing an all-in-one platform for continuous and comprehensive security testing. The startup is the brainchild of Dhruva Goyal and Kathan Desai, two 20-year-old motivated young students who discontinued college to focus on their entrepreneurial venture. The platform saw 500 ethical hackers using its platform in less than six months of its inception.
According to the company, BugBase’s platform, unlike traditional security platforms, takes into account the agile methodology used by businesses today. A corporation can get an early baseline assessment followed by regular pentests that help integrate security testing into the process rather than as an afterthought or an additional step. As a pioneer in cybersecurity, Bugbase hopes to lead India into a more secure future by promoting better security practices within organisations.
For security novices, BugBase organises regular “capture the flag” (CTF) events in collaboration with Indian colleges. It also publishes a weekly blog and podcast to educate the general public about cybersecurity advancements. At present, BugBase is hosting Bug Bounty programs and PTaaS (Pentest-as-a-Service) programs for companies such as ImpactGuru and boAt.
Founders’ words
“BugBase intends to give a large community of ethical hackers access to an optimised platform that has already begun to revolutionise India’s cybersecurity market. We aim to spread awareness about cybersecurity among organisations and businesses likewise and hope to facilitate fruitful interactions between ethical hackers and companies.”
Dhruva Goyal, founder and CEO, BugBase
“Businesses face all types of breaches, and these vulnerabilities pose a great risk to sensitive data. Therefore, the 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.”
Kathan Desai, Founder, BugBase