MCLEAN, Va.– Red Cell Partners, an incubation firm building and investing in rapidly scalable, technology-led companies that are bringing revolutionary advancements to market in cyber, national security, and healthcare, today announced the public launch of Hunted Labs, a software security company that leverages artificial intelligence to give organizations unprecedented end-to-end visibility into their software supply chains, allowing them to quickly identify — and eliminate — malicious threats. The company, which emerges from stealth with $3 million in pre-seed funding from Red Cell, is the latest to launch under the firm’s Cyber Practice.
By offering public and private organizations a clear line of sight into who is developing and controlling the open source software that their applications rely on day in and day out, Hunted Labs provides unified threat management to help customers improve their cyber-defense posture. Boasting a team with decades of experience in supporting the US Department of Defense, US Intelligence Community, and Fortune 100 and 500 clients, the company is led by co-founders Amanda Aguayo, Tim Barone, and Hayden Smith.
“Organizations today are under constant threat from attackers who hunt for vulnerabilities in the software supply chain that they can readily exploit. In fact, it is estimated that, by 2026, software supply chain attacks will cost victims almost $81 billion,” said Aguayo. “We created Hunted Labs to provide automated threat hunting and threat management that enable the proactive and systematic tracking, identification, and remediation of potential cybersecurity breaches, especially those that could inflict serious harm.”
Coming off its launch, the company was recently selected by AFWERX for a Small Business Innovation Research Direct-to-Phase II contract totaling $1.79 million to support the strategic advancements of the Space Development Agency. This award will enable Hunted Labs to continue to develop its product Entercept™, which aims to provide customers with command and control over their software supply chain.
“The last few years have clearly shown us that when it comes to cyberattacks – whether by a nation-state actor seeking to disrupt critical infrastructure or a cybercriminal out to score a big payday – no organization is off-limits,” said Smith, a software engineer who spent a decade working at companies like Booz Allen Hamilton helping the DoD as well as private-sector clients secure their software supply chains. “When these attacks occur – often through malicious code inserted into third-party software, including open source – organizations find themselves in reactive mode and, unfortunately, by then the damage has likely already been done. With a focus on providing greater visibility into each stage of the software development life cycle and the potential risks, our aim is to help clients adopt a more proactive stance so they can better protect themselves against would-be attackers.”
Hunted Labs was invited to apply to Red Cell Go in Spring 2024, becoming the first company to launch from Red Cell’s open application program that allows entrepreneurs with deep domain expertise to incubate within the firm as they explore and validate early-stage concepts. Through the program, Hunted Labs has tapped platform services, including access to developers, compute, and myriad back-office functions, enabling the rapid development of a healthy federal and commercial sales pipeline.
In addition, the team has assembled a Board of Advisors that includes Jim Higgins, CISO of CoreWeave and former CISO of Snap; Kris Merritt, former Senior Director of Threat Hunting Operations for CrowdStrike and former Intrusion Detection Lead for GE Aviation; and George Barnes, the President of Red Cell’s Cyber Practice and former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency.
“In the not-too-distant past, there was a heightened push to leverage open source software to expedite time-to-market, which often meant relegating cyber defense to backburner status. Today, however, we are seeing the consequences of not prioritizing cybersecurity as more and more entities fall prey to malicious attacks,” Barnes said. “Through its product and services, the Hunted Labs team will enable customers to maintain their velocity while also assessing and mitigating risk, proving that you don’t have to compromise in the pursuit of Secure by Design.
“We are proud to be on this journey with Hunted Labs and have full confidence in their ability to fortify software supply chains and protect the hunted,” Barnes added.
