Bugcrowd to boost Australian presence

Crowdsourced security company Bugcrowd, which has expanded to Silicon Valley since its birth in Australia, is again eyeing off the Asia Pacific region as it moves to new Sydney offices to accommodate its growing team.

The company, which has handled the bug hunting bounties for companies such as Netflix, Fiat, and Netgear this week cemented its position as a cyber export darling after as Australian Foreign Affairs minister Julie Bishop made an appearance at its San Francisco headquarters.

Discussing how startups like Bugcrowd can help mitigate the shortage in cybersecurity specialists, Bishop described the company as a vital platform for helping organisations realise their own vulnerabilities before criminals do.

“Bugcrowd is an example of the strong business ties that link Australia and the US and I am delighted to support their continued expansion and partnership,” she said.

Bugcrowd has also partnered with the University of New South Wales to deliver courses to help students gain real-world experience identifying potential security vulnerabilities.

“As a company that started in Australia and works with some of the largest companies in the country, we are passionate about enabling businesses in the region to adopt the crowdsourced approach to security,” said Bugcrowd’s CTO and founder Casey Ellis.

“With the excellent growth we’ve seen in APAC, we felt it was time to grow our team and presence in the region, and what better place to do that than back home.

“We are proud of our Australian heritage and our leadership in the area.”

The company also indicated that it would be further increasing its local headcount over the next 12 months.

Australian companies First State Super, Blackbird and Hostplus were among the contributors to Bugcrowd’s US$26 million Series-C round of fundraising earlier this year.