Microsoft continues to bolster its investment in open source as it participates in a new funding round which raised $35 million for WhiteSource, an open source security management company. M12, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of Microsoft, is among the investors along with 83North, which backed the series C funding round led by Susquehanna Growth Equity.
Israel-based WhiteSource previously raised $11 million in previous financing rounds, and the latest round raises the company's total funding to $46 million. In regard to the role of open source in modern applications, the company was quoted by Reuters as saying that open standards have become their main building block.
WhiteSource added:
“However, as the open source community grows, and the number of reported vulnerabilities keeps climbing, manually verifying the security and compliance of open source components can no longer provide the necessary control over the security of these components."
Microsoft's participation makes sense, since aside from being one of WhiteSource's customers, the software giant has also been relentlessly expanding its footprint in the open source community. Most recently, Microsoft joined the Open Innovation Network (OIN) which aims to protect Linux and other open-source software from legal liability. As part of that move, the Redmond-based company will make 60,000 of its patents available to the OIN.
WhiteSource's other customers include IBM and Comcast. It was founded in 2011 and currently holds offices in New York, Boston, and Tel Aviv.
Source: Reuters
