Black Kite
Primary category: vendor-risk.
One-liner — A third-party cyber-risk-intelligence / ratings vendor that scores suppliers across technical, financial (dollar-risk), and compliance dimensions.
What it does — Black Kite does outside-in assessment and continuous monitoring of third parties, but differentiates by translating cyber posture into three lenses: a technical rating, a FAIR-based financial estimate of probable breach impact (dollars), and a compliance/standards mapping. The dollar-risk framing is its signature pitch to TPRM teams who need to prioritize vendors by business impact.
Where it sits in the stack — vendor-risk, governance layer. External risk-signal source for TPRM, not a runtime data control. Peer of bitsight, securityscorecard, upguard; feeds assessment workflows like processunity / onetrust.
Deployment & architecture — SaaS. Outside-in scanning + ratings/portal + FAIR quantification + compliance mapping; integrations with GRC/TPRM tooling.
Positioning & differentiators — Smaller and more focused than bitsight / securityscorecard; the FAIR financial-quantification angle is the main differentiator versus letter/number-grade ratings. Standards-based compliance mapping is a secondary hook.
Ownership, funding & M&A — independent, private, VC-backed. Founded 2016 (Candan Bolukbas, ex-NATO ethical hacker; co-founder Mohamoud Jibrell); HQ Boston; CEO Paul Paget. ~$33M+ raised: Series A $7.5M (2020, Moore Strategic Ventures + Glasswing + Data Point), Series B $22M (2023, led by Volition Capital). No acquisition found. (high confidence)
CTO / hedge-fund lens — Day-1-ish for a fund that wants third-party risk expressed in dollars to prioritize remediation across vendors (including AI/SaaS). Smaller brand than the leaders but the financial framing resonates with risk committees. Triage signal, not sole control.
Competitors / alternatives — bitsight, securityscorecard, upguard, processunity, onetrust.
Open questions / to verify — Latest funding/scale post-2023; coverage breadth vs. larger ratings vendors.
Sources
- Black Kite raises $22M Series B (SecurityWeek) — fetched 2026-06-28 — supports: Series B $22M Volition, total funding; confidence: high
- Black Kite Series A announcement — fetched 2026-06-28 — supports: founded 2016, founders, Series A, FAIR/technical/compliance model; confidence: high
History
- [2026-06-28] Stub created from seed registry.
- [2026-06-28] Researched; confirmed independent VC-backed (~$33M+, Volition-led Series B 2023); founded 2016 Boston; FAIR dollar-risk differentiator noted; ownership unchanged (independent).