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§ Private Profile · Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Service optimizing container security by removing unused components.
RapidFort develops a comprehensive software supply chain security platform designed to harden containerized applications. Its core product analyzes container software, identifies vulnerabilities by understanding runtime behavior, and automates remediation by removing dormant or unused components. The platform offers curated, near-zero CVE container images and continuously optimizes existing images, significantly reducing the attack surface and enabling robust security posture management.
The company was co-founded by Mehran Farimani and Rajeev Kumar Thakur around 2019. The foundational insight emerged from recognizing the pervasive and often hidden vulnerabilities within container images and the inefficiencies of traditional security scanning methods. Farimani and Thakur aimed to create a solution that proactively secures software by minimizing unnecessary components, thereby addressing the root cause of many attack vectors.
RapidFort's platform primarily serves enterprise and federal organizations seeking to enhance their security and compliance within container environments. It assists these customers in achieving accelerated software releases, streamlining compliance with stringent standards such as FedRAMP and SOC 2, and managing overall software supply chain risk. The company envisions a future where containers are inherently secure from their foundational elements through their deployment and runtime.
RAPIDFORT has raised $53.0M across 3 funding rounds.
RAPIDFORT has raised $53.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
RAPIDFORT has raised $53.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $42.0M Series A in February 2026.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 3, 2026 | $42M Series A | Blue Cloud Ventures, ForgePoint Capital | Alumni Ventures, Boulder Ventures, Brave Capital, Evolution Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Florida Funders, Gaingels, Mana Ventures | Announced |
| Jun 1, 2022 | $9M Seed | Felicis Ventures | Blockchange Ventures, Novel TMT, Bloomberg Beta, ForgePoint Capital, GIT1K Club, Global Founders Capital, Plug And Play Ventures | Announced |
| Jul 1, 2021 | $2M Seed | — | 11.2 Capital, Felicis Ventures, Plug & Play Ventures | Announced |
RapidFort is a Sunnyvale, California-based cybersecurity company founded in 2020 that provides a Software Attack Surface Management (SASM) platform for securing containers and software supply chains.[1][2][5] It builds tools including DevTime Protection (scanning and profiling in CI/CD pipelines), Curated Near-Zero CVE Images (over 15,000 hardened, FIPS-validated images), and RunTime Protection (real-time optimization), serving DevOps teams, federal agencies, and enterprises in sectors like defense, finance, healthcare, and cloud providers.[2][3][4][6] The platform solves inefficiency in vulnerability management by automatically identifying, prioritizing, and remediating over 95% of vulnerabilities without code changes, removing 50-90% of unused components to shrink attack surfaces by up to 90%, generate SBOMs/RBOMs, and accelerate compliance like FedRAMP and SOC 2—boosting release velocity and cutting engineering time from hours to minutes.[1][2][3][5] With $8.5M in funding, over 100 customers, and availability on AWS and Google Cloud Marketplaces, RapidFort shows strong growth momentum, including U.S. Space Force deployments and SBIR contracts for AI/ML and DoD modernization.[3][4][5]
RapidFort was co-founded in 2020 by Shahrokh Farimani (CEO) and Prateek Thakur, who identified a critical gap in container security while addressing developer challenges in gaining insights into workloads and mitigating vulnerabilities.[1] Frustrated by time-consuming vulnerability remediation—requiring manual identification, prioritization, root-cause analysis, and patching—they pioneered a "shift left" platform that profiles containers non-disruptively, auto-removes unused components not in execution paths, and optimizes software bills of materials (SBOM).[1][2] Early traction came from defense applications, including U.S. Air Force SBIR Phase I awards in 2022 for AI/ML container optimization ($49K) and Space Force deployments yielding 300% faster boots, lower memory/bandwidth use, and MOUs with PlatformOne, GBSD, and others—proving its edge in secure, agile open-source robotics and DoD factories.[4]
RapidFort rides the software supply chain security wave, fueled by exploding open-source use in cloud-native apps, CI/CD pipelines, and AI/ML (e.g., PyTorch/TensorFlow), amid rising Log4Shell-style attacks and mandates like Biden's EO 14028 for SBOMs.[2][4] Timing is ideal post-2020 container boom and 2021-2025 supply chain breaches, with market forces like DoD modernization (modular systems, Space Force factories) and FedRAMP pressures favoring auto-optimization over manual fixes.[3][4][6] It influences the ecosystem by defining SASM as a category, enabling agile OSS in satellites/robots (e.g., ROS on ISS), hardening hyperscalers, and bridging commercial best practices to government—reducing vuln queues so devs build faster.[1][4]
RapidFort is poised to dominate SASM as supply chain threats escalate with AI proliferation and edge computing, expanding from 100+ customers via marketplace integrations and DoD wins toward enterprise dominance.[3][5] Trends like zero-trust mandates, GenAI vulnerabilities, and quantum-resistant hardening will amplify demand for its runtime intelligence, potentially scaling curated images to 50K+ and remediating 99% CVEs. Its influence may evolve into ecosystem standards for "secure-by-default" containers, circling back to its core promise: paradigm-shifting vulnerability management that lets developers innovate unhindered.[1][2]
RAPIDFORT has raised $53.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
RAPIDFORT's investors include Blue Cloud Ventures, ForgePoint Capital, Alumni Ventures, Boulder Ventures, Brave Capital, Evolution Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Florida Funders, Gaingels, Mana Ventures, Blockchange Ventures, Novel TMT.