The Silicon Review ^Asia

Any person who is passionate about software development knows the importance of open source software. It is a multi-billion dollar market and millions of application developers and software enthusiasts swear by it. However, what is well-known are the gaps in security in open source codes. If used in software development, these vulnerabilities are easily exploited by hackers to steal data or disrupt operations. A startup based out of the United Kingdom called Synk has come up with an innovative solution to tackle suspicious or compromised portions of open source codes.

Founded in 2015, Synk had raised a cool $7 million in a Series A funding in March this year. In a span of a mere 6 months, the company has now raised another $22 million in a Series B round of funding, led by venture capital firms Accel and GV. In light of this, it is accurate to say that open source security is a large market with relatively few players in it. Such a significant amount raised in a second round of finding in such a short span speaks volumes of the demand for the service.

The company boasts of over 200 customers and 1, 50,000 users, and revenues that have gone up five times within a year. It scans open source activity and discussions over the internet and uses a machine learning system to detect any chatter or mentions regarding vulnerabilities. If detected, these are then analyzed by a dedicated team and auto-fixed by suggesting safer alternatives for the compromised code.