Socket Secures $40M to Combat Software Supply Chain Attacks, Backed by Abstract Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Bret Taylor
Socket, a developer-first security platform that protects critical applications from software supply chain attacks, has raised $40 million in a Series B funding round. Led by Abstract Ventures, the round saw participation from Elad Gil, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and notable angel investors including Bret Taylor (OpenAI), Phil Venables (Google), and Tobias Lütke (Shopify). The funding brings Socket’s total capital to $65 million, with plans to scale its team and accelerate product development. With over 90% of modern applications relying on open-source software, security has become more essential than ever. Traditional Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools are proving inadequate in handling the growing frequency and sophistication of supply chain attacks. Socket addresses this gap by offering a proactive solution, monitoring open-source packages for malicious behaviours such as backdoors, typo-squatting, and obfuscated code. “We’ve seen incredible momentum over the past year,” said Feross Aboukhadijeh, founder and CEO of Socket. “Our technology has enabled leading AI, B2B, and finance companies to switch from legacy SCA tools like Snyk to Socket. We’re not just catching vulnerabilities — we’re detecting and blocking malicious threats in real-time.” Socket, built by prolific security experts whose open-source software is installed over 1 billion times per month, is trusted by top organisations in tech, media, manufacturing, and finance. The platform now supports six programming languages, including recently added Java and Ruby, and handles critical use cases like licence enforcement and reachability analysis, positioning itself as a comprehensive replacement for legacy SCA tools. AI Accelerates Malicious Attacks “As generative AI drives unprecedented speed in software development, the risk of malicious or vulnerable packages slipping through is higher than ever,” noted Amjad Masad, Replit founder and CEO. “Socket provides preventative protection, catching threats before they can compromise organisations and enabling developers to innovate without sacrificing security.” In the past year, Socket’s AI-powered threat detection has enabled the company to block over 100 software supply chain attacks each week, a key factor in its rapid growth. Today, the platform protects more than 7,500 organisations and 300,000 GitHub repositories. “Socket is revolutionising how companies secure their software,” said Ramtin Naimi, Founder and Managing Partner at Abstract Ventures. “Their preventative and developer-friendly approach is exactly what’s needed as organisations face increasing software supply chain threats.” With the new funding, Socket intends to expand its engineering, product, and sales teams to address the increasing demand for its platform. According to Aboukhadijeh, the company is focused on building a world-class team to tackle one of the most urgent challenges in software today.
Socket looks to address security gaps in open source software models.
Socket looks to address security gaps in open source software models.
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As a rare blend of engineering, MBA, and journalism degree, Vandana Nair brings a unique combination of technical know-how, business acumen, and storytelling skills to the table. Her insatiable curiosity for all things startups, businesses, and AI technologies ensures that there's always a fresh and insightful perspective to her reporting. She now hosts her tech segment 'Point Break' on AIM Tv.