Robin Godwin: South Baltimore’s ZeroFox Raises $74 Million, Plans to Grow to 500 Employees

South Baltimore’s ZeroFox, a social media and public platform cybersecurity company that was founded in 2013, announced on Friday it had raised $74 million in a financing round led by Intel Capital. ZeroFox will use the funding to expand globally and double its workforce.

The $74-million round also includes investments from existing investors, including NEA, Highland Capital Partners, Redline Capital Management, Hercules Capital, and Core Capital.

“ZeroFOX has established itself as the global leader in the public attack surface protection marketplace,” said Anthony Lin, vice president and senior managing director of Intel Capital, in a press release. “The company’s best-in-class SaaS platform, AI capabilities and exceptional business profile are a testament to the unquestionable value it delivers to customers. We’re looking forward to collaborating with the company to accelerate its strategic expansion globally and its compelling technology roadmap.”

ZeroFox is hoping for a public offering soon, and will need to get to $100 million in sales to get there. “We’re not there yet, but its within eyesight,” said ZeroFox Founder and CEO James Foster. He looks forward to ringing the bell in the future at the New York Stock Exchange, and making it a celebration of Baltimore.

ZeroFox is currently headquartered at the former Pabst castle at 1838 S. Charles St. The company converted the historic bottling building into an office space for its team. ZeroFox currently has 250 employees and offices around the world. About half of its workforce is located in Baltimore and the Washington, D.C. area.

Foster told SouthBMore.com that while many of the new hires will be international to help grow the company in different continents, his company is going to need to find additional office space in South Baltimore. He said ZeroFox hasn’t figured details out yet, but said there is the potential to expand its office footprint at 1838 S. Charles St.

“We are probably under invested internationally, but we want to make sure our foundation is rock solid in Baltimore,” said Foster.

ZeroFox currently has operations centers in Asia, London, and Latin America. Foster said he spends about 80% of his time traveling.

Foster, who also lives in South Baltimore, said he loves South Baltimore and “wouldn’t trade it for anything.” He takes pride in bringing energy into the city, and said his employees also like the location.

ZeroFox partners with local gyms including Reflex Functional Fitness and CrossFit Federal Hill on boot camps, caters lunches four days a week exclusively from South Baltimore businesses, brings in coffee from Ceremony Coffee, and taps local kegs of beer.

Foster said ZeroFox has been successful in pulling in recent hires from Austin, Texas, Boston, New York City, and Florida. California has always been a big hub for the tech industry, but Foster said, “People don’t love California the way they used to, it’s super expensive. As companies are starting to go elsewhere, employees are dong the same thing.”

Foster loves to talk up Baltimore and loves its close geographical proximity to parks, mountains, bodies of water, and other cities.

Port Covington, which is a multi-decade, $5.5-billion, 235-acre development, is located just one block from the ZeroFox headquarters. The Port Covington Team is looking to bring in a slew of cyber companies and has been dubbed “Cyber Town USA” by some of its first cyber tenants that will open offices in the coming years.

Foster said, “I would consider us the founder of Cyber Town USA.” He added that ZeroFox loves the idea of being surrounded by other companies and is willing to—and hopes they can—help bring other cyber companies to South Baltimore.