SA cybersecurity startup Sendmarc secures follow-on funding from Kalon Venture Partners

South African cybersecurity email protection and compliance startup Sendmarc has received follow-on investment from Kalon Venture Partners as it looks to build on strong recent growth.

Launched in 2018 by Sam Hutchinson, Keith Thompson and Sacha Matulovich, Sendmarc provides the setup, implementation and reporting functionality for a global email protection standard known as DMARC.

This protocol is designed to give email domain owners the ability to protect their domains from unauthorised use, such as impersonation attacks or email spoofing. By accelerating the implementation of DMARC, Sendmarc enables organisations to protect themselves as well as their customers and suppliers.

Sendmarc first raised funding from Kalon Venture Partners, a South Africa-based Section 12J venture capital company, in January of last year, but since then it has seen strong growth. This year alone it has seen an average of 30 per cent month-on-month growth, and it is processing around 400 million emails per month on its platform. Customers include 35 JSE-listed companies as well as some international clients.

With further growth in mind, it has now taken on follow-on capital from Kalon, with which it plans on entering international markets while continuing to build its presence in South Africa.

“We welcome the support and continued commitment of Clive Butkow and the Kalon team. Sendmarc looks forward to further expanding our team and scaling the Sendmarc business into global markets,” said Sam Hutchinson, chief executive officer (CEO) of Sendmarc.

Kalon Venture Partners CEO Butkow said the Sendmarc team was “exceptional”.

“Kalon’s strategy is to invest in the best teams building innovative scalable technology. The Sendmarc team ticked all of these boxes, they continue to show exceptional leadership ability while building on outstanding tech innovation and showing exceptional growth in revenue,” he said.

“This follow-on round is testimony to the Sendmarc team’s ability to deliver a solution solving a large problem across industries. Sendmarc is the solution that makes the internet a safer place and prevents phishing and spoofing which reduces the cloning of emails for malicious intent. A very real threat and an essential and much needed security solution for every business.”