UK-based Hack The Box secures €51M for its ‘gamified’ cybersecurity training and upskilling platform

UK-based Hack The Box, an online gamified cybersecurity upskilling and talent assessment platform, announced on Wednesday, January 11, that it has raised $55M (approximately €51.09M) in a Series B round of funding.

The company says it will use the funds to build its “gamer-first” solutions offering with “ultra-realistic” coding gameplay. And as the company continues its worldwide expansion with solid commercial traction in the US, Europe, and APAC, the funds will also help improve its go-to-market function.

Investors supporting Hack The Box

The investment was led by Carlyle, an investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across three business segments – Global Private Equity, Global Credit and Global Investment Solutions. The firm has $369B of assets under management.

The round also saw participation from Paladin Capital Group, Osage University Partners, Marathon Venture Capital, Brighteye Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst Fund.

Constantin Boye, a Director in the Carlyle Europe Technology Partners (CETP) advisory team, says, “The demands on security and IT professionals have never been greater. An industry-wide talent shortage and an exponentially growing number of cyber threats place great importance on professionals and organisations to maintain best-in-class security practices.” 

“We believe Hack The Box is a pioneer in constantly providing fresh and curated training and upskilling content, in a fully gamified and intuitive environment, enabling individuals and organisations to tackle real-world hacking problems.”

Take your cybersecurity skills to the next level

Founded in 2017 by Haris Pylarinos, Aris Zikopoulos and James Hooker, Hack The Box is an online cybersecurity training platform that helps individuals, businesses, universities, and organisations to up their offensive and defensive security skills through a fully gamified and engaging learning environment.

Hack The Box claims to be the go-to resource for all cybersecurity experts with its updated virtual laboratories, simulations of real-world events, CTF-style challenges, and multiplayer hacking games. This helps them determine how secure their organisations appear to be from an attacker’s point of view.

CEO Haris Pylarinos explains, “Our mission is to create and connect cyber-ready humans and organisations through highly engaging hacking experiences that cultivate out-of-the-box thinking. The game in cyber has changed with defensive, reactive and recovery postures not being fit-for-purpose in the face of an ever-increasing and ever-evolving wave of sophisticated attacks.”

“A new proactive offensive & defensive approach is needed to take the fight to cybercriminals rather than waiting to be hit. From individual security professionals to companies, this means adopting a ‘hacker mindset’, learning to think and act like an attacker. This is the kind of mindset that we cultivate through Hack The Box,” adds Pylarinos.

The company has a global community of more than 1.7 million platform members and established a portfolio of more than 1,500 enterprises, government and university customers.