Bridgecrew
Acquired8 known investors
BridgeCrew delivers cloud security as a service, with an emphasis on defining security policies as code. It is aimed at engineering and DevOps teams that manage infrastructure across cloud environments.
Also known as Bridgecrew Technologies · Bridgecrew.io
Investors · 8
Also in the syndicate · 5
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Bridgecrew was a developer-first cloud security company that automated security engineering by identifying and automatically fixing cloud infrastructure misconfigurations in both build-time and run-time. Its platform centered on infrastructure as code (IaC), where infrastructure configuration is codified during development, giving developers and DevOps teams a systematic way to enforce infrastructure security standards across the application development lifecycle — an approach commonly described as "shift left" security.
The company maintained an open-source practice alongside its commercial platform, developing four open-source projects in its first years, the best known being Checkov, an IaC scanner. Bridgecrew also offered a free community tier that users could sign up for in minutes, and distributed integrations through third-party marketplaces, including a Bitbucket Cloud app on the Atlassian Marketplace. Following the acquisition, Bridgecrew's capabilities were folded into Palo Alto Networks' Prisma Cloud platform, which was positioned to deliver security from build time to runtime.
Founding story
Bridgecrew was founded in February 2019 by three cybersecurity practitioners: Idan Tendler (CEO), who had previously founded Fortscale, a company sold to RSA; Barak Schoster Goihman (CTO); and Guy Eisenkot (VP of Product). The founders observed that as organizations moved IT services and software to the cloud, the attack surface expanded while responsibility for cloud security shifted from centralized security teams to engineering teams, and that existing tooling was not developer-friendly. Working directly with early customers, they identified the opportunity to codify cloud security and embed it into the development lifecycle through automation and infrastructure as code.
Business model
Bridgecrew sold a commercial cloud security platform to organizations while operating a free community tier and open-source projects that drove developer adoption. The company pursued a combined top-down and bottom-up motion, selling directly to CISOs and CIOs while its open-source tooling was adopted by individual contributors and large enterprises.
Traction
Checkov surpassed one million downloads during 2020, its first full year of availability. Bridgecrew's customer base and monthly sign-ups both tripled during the second half of 2020, and its open-source community was described as reaching millions of users. Platform customers cited at the time of the acquisition included Robinhood, Databricks and LendingHome.
Latest developments
Palo Alto Networks completed its acquisition of Bridgecrew on March 2, 2021, paying approximately $156 million in cash excluding replacement equity awards. The co-founders and their teams joined Palo Alto Networks, Bridgecrew's platform was integrated into Prisma Cloud to extend it across the full application lifecycle, and Palo Alto Networks stated it would accelerate investment in the Checkov open-source community.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Bridgecrew was characterized by its acquirer and industry press as a pioneer in the emerging "shift left" cloud security space, with a developer security platform widely adopted in the developer community. Its technology was acquired to extend Palo Alto Networks' Prisma Cloud, described as covering more than 1,800-2,000 customers including roughly 70-75% of the Fortune 100, into build-time security.
The company differentiated by targeting developers rather than centralized security teams, automating remediation of misconfigurations inside engineering workflows rather than only flagging issues at runtime, and by pairing its commercial platform with widely used open-source tooling that spread adoption at no cost.
Technology
Bridgecrew built a security-as-code platform focused on infrastructure as code, scanning and automatically remediating insecure cloud infrastructure configurations at both build time and run time, with alerts delivered to developer teams in real time and fixes embedded in engineering workflows. Its open-source IaC scanner, Checkov, was one of four open-source projects the company developed; the approach targeted misconfigured templates at the source so that a single fix prevented errors from being replicated across many deployments.
Go-to-market
The company combined a top-down enterprise sales approach aimed at CISOs and CIOs with a bottom-up, developer-led motion built on open-source projects and a free community offering that users could sign up for in minutes. It also distributed integrations via partner marketplaces, such as an app for Bitbucket Cloud on the Atlassian Marketplace, and cultivated a network of strategic advisors and investors drawn from security leadership at cloud-native companies.
Developers, DevOps teams and security organizations (CISOs and CIOs) at cloud-first companies, ranging from individual contributors using its open-source tools to Fortune 100 enterprises. Named platform users included Robinhood, Databricks and LendingHome.
Geography
Bridgecrew was headquartered in San Francisco, California (18 Bartol Street), with research and development in Israel, employing dozens of people across the two locations.
History
Founded in February 2019, Bridgecrew raised a $4 million seed round led by NFX in the same month. In April 2020 it emerged from stealth alongside a $14 million Series A led by Battery Ventures with NFX participating, and rolled out a free community offering. During the second half of 2020 both its customer base and monthly sign-ups tripled, and its open-source Checkov scanner passed one million downloads in 2020, its first full year of availability. In January 2021 the company added further strategic advisors and investors from companies including Robinhood, Databricks, Brex, Hippo and AWS. On February 16, 2021, Palo Alto Networks announced a definitive agreement to acquire the company for approximately $156 million in cash; the deal closed and was announced as complete on March 2, 2021, with the three co-founders and their teams joining Palo Alto Networks.
Compiled by commissioned research from 6 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsPalo Alto Networks announced completion of the acquisition; co-founders Idan Tendler, Barak Schoster and Guy Eisenkot and their teams joined the company.
$156M source ↗
Palo Alto Networks agreed to acquire Bridgecrew for approximately $156 million in cash, excluding the value of replacement equity awards, to extend Prisma Cloud with build-time, developer-focused security.
$156M source ↗
The company emerged from stealth mode with a $14 million Series A led by Battery Ventures, with NFX and several security executives participating.
$14M source ↗
Bridgecrew released a free community tier allowing customers to sign up within minutes.
NFX partner Gigi Levy-Weiss led a $4 million seed round in the month the company was founded.
$4M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 6
primary sources listed
- Bridgecrew | Atlassian Marketplacemarketplace.atlassian.com · web
6 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Bridgecrew do?
- Israeli-founded developer-first cloud security company acquired by Palo Alto Networks in 2021 for about $156 million.
- Who are Bridgecrew's investors?
- Bridgecrew's investors include Battery Ventures, NFX, Sorenson Ventures.