CPE News (10/21/2020) – Sourced Group Worldwide Inc. has secured CDN $2.5 million from existing investor, Round 13 Capital.
Proceeds will be used to launch a new company and product, Kivera, that was incubated within Sourced and will now be spun out as a separate entity.
With operations in Sydney and Toronto, Kivera will be led by product co-founders, Vernon Jefferson and Neil Brown, who will be stepping away from Sourced to take on the roles of CTO and VP of Operations respectively. The role of interim CEO will be held by Sourced CEO, Jonathan Spinks who will join interim CFO, Wilson Lee, Vernon Jefferson and Round 13 representative on the board of directors.
The new funding follows Sourced closed a CDN $20 million equity and debt funding round less than a year ago, also led by Round 13 Capital, with participation from Comerica Bank and HSBC.
photo credit: Kivera
News Release
Sourced Group Secures Additional $2.5 Million in Funding
Proceeds to launch Kivera, a new cloud security company and product
SYDNEY and TORONTO, Oct. 21, 2020 /CNW/ – Sourced Group Worldwide Inc. (“Sourced”), a leading global technology consultancy, is pleased to announce today that it has secured CAD $2.5 million from existing investor, Round 13 Capital. The financing will be used to launch a new company and product, Kivera, that was incubated within Sourced and will now be spun out as a separate entity.
Kivera is a cloud security product that applies governance policies universally and consistently across an enterprise’s multi-cloud environments. Kivera provides developers with the freedom to choose the best orchestration tool for the job, native or otherwise, while bolstering the organisation’s security posture through continual assurance.
With operations in Sydney and Toronto, Kivera will be led by product co-founders, Vernon Jefferson and Neil Brown, who will be stepping away from Sourced to take on the roles of CTO and VP of Operations respectively. The role of interim CEO will be held by Sourced CEO, Jonathan Spinks who will join interim CFO, Wilson Lee, Vernon Jefferson and Round 13 on the Board of Directors.
“Through years of consulting, we consistently observed tensions between security teams working to preserve the integrity of cloud environments and application teams wanting to focus on innovating their applications rather than navigating rigid control structures,” says Neil Brown.
“Striking a balance is further complicated by the ever-increasing number of cloud services and possible configurations. In fact, according to Gartner, ‘nearly all successful attacks on cloud services are a result of customer misconfiguration, mismanagement and mistakes’1. Kivera helps solve this by enabling uniform and granular policy enforcement across any cloud and any tool. Your cloud. Your rules,” continues Brown. “We are currently working with a number of businesses, including a large Australian financial services organisation, in beta testing ahead of a formal launch in Q1 2021.”
Kivera has been incubated through Sourced’s internal ‘Innovators Fund’ program which enables employees to harness their entrepreneurial spirit and bring to life new solutions borne from the challenges they experience every day, alongside their clients.
“Vernon and Neil have been instrumental in bringing Kivera to life. They identified a true client need and have successfully driven the product’s development to date,” says Spinks. “Their achievements are a clear reflection of Sourced’s commitment to our innovation value and we are thrilled to have our first graduates from the Innovators Fund leading Kivera through this exciting next phase.”
This latest funding comes less than a year after Sourced closed a CAD $20 million funding round, also led by Toronto-based Round 13 Capital, with participation from Comerica Bank and HSBC.
“Sourced has been a leader in enterprise-wide cloud transformation for the past ten years and we are delighted to witness their continued innovation having followed Kivera’s growth since its inception”, says John Eckert, co-founder at Round 13 Capital. “We look forward to supporting the team on their new venture. Now more than ever, with the rapid adoption of cloud services, safeguarding one’s security is of paramount importance.”
For more information about Kivera, visit https://kivera.io/.
1Gartner, Solution Path for Security in the Public Cloud, Richard Bartley, 30 January 2020
About Kivera
Kivera provides organisations and their development teams the freedom to choose any cloud orchestration tool, while enforcing consistent compliance, governance, and security policies across all major cloud service providers. Founded in Sydney in 2020, Kivera is a generational leap for cloud compliance tooling allowing organisations to enhance their developer experience, gain compliance insights, and strengthen their security posture. Kivera – Your cloud. Your rules™.
https://kivera.io/
About Sourced Group
Sourced is an award-winning global consulting firm that helps organisations make the most of cloud computing with a focus on security, governance, and compliance. With nearly a decade of experience and offices in Australia, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia, Sourced provides professional services that secure, migrate and manage hyperscale cloud infrastructure for enterprise clients. We specialize in organisation-wide cloud transformation and enablement for highly regulated industries, including financial services, aviation, healthcare and telecommunications. Our proven deployment frameworks and trusted design patterns enable security-conscious organisations to unlock innovation, increase velocity and embrace cloud at scale.
www.sourcedgroup.com
About Round 13 Capital
Round 13 Capital is a Toronto-based venture capital firm that invests in growth-stage technology businesses. The firm is managed by experienced investors and operators. It uses a disciplined investment approach to identify exceptional entrepreneurs running companies with market leadership potential. Round 13 works ‘hands-on’ with its portfolio companies to unlock strategic and financial value.
www.round13.com
SOURCE Sourced Group
For further information: Media enquiries: Sara Watkins, Marketing Manager, marketing@sourcedgroup.com, +61 2 8278 0777