StackHawk, the shift-left API security platform, today announced a $12 million funding round led by Sapphire and Costanoa Ventures. This investment aims to help security teams keep pace with the accelerating adoption of AI-driven development, especially in sensitive industries such as healthcare and fintech. The new funding will accelerate product development and feature releases that simplify secure scaling for modern engineering teams. Sapphire and Costanoa Ventures also co-led StackHawk’s 2022 Series B, bringing total funding to $47.3 million.
Challenges in AI-Driven Development and API Security
Rapid Deployment, Growing Security Risks
Developers are deploying code 70% faster with AI tools (per the latest DORA report), but 30% of this code contains security weaknesses (Cornell University). Security teams are overwhelmed by the volume and speed of new vulnerabilities, often outnumbered 100:1 by developers.
Burden on Application Security Teams
AppSec teams spend excessive time prioritizing issues, creating tickets, and chasing developers, which causes backlogs and delayed remediation. This productivity gap allows vulnerabilities to persist, increasing exposure to cyberattacks.
The Critical Role of API Security
According to Imperva’s 2024 State of API Security Report, 71% of internet traffic consists of API calls, making API security a vital focus area. StackHawk’s platform specializes in identifying and fixing vulnerabilities early in development before reaching production.
Industry Recognition and Vision
StackHawk was recently named Outstanding API Security Platform by the Global Infosec Awards at RSA 2025, honoring its innovative approach to API security testing.
“We’re seeing customers ship applications faster than ever with AI tools, but security teams can’t keep up,” said Joni Klippert, CEO and Co-Founder of StackHawk. “Our goal is to help teams identify and fix the most critical security issues generated by the pace of AI-driven development.”
Greg Sands, Founder and Managing Partner at Costanoa Ventures, added, “StackHawk is uniquely positioned to help enterprises maintain strong security postures by focusing on early detection and remediation in the software development lifecycle.”
With this new funding, StackHawk will accelerate innovation to provide developers and security teams with powerful tools to keep pace with AI-driven software delivery — ensuring faster, safer releases that protect critical data and systems in today’s evolving threat landscape.
