Bethesda startup lands $8.5M seed to help protect applications from attacks

After witnessing one breach after another at different organizations, Chris Hertz and his colleagues wanted to find a solution.

Hertz and three others cofounded Heeler Security in 2023 to find a fix. The team behind the Bethesda-based application security startup created a real-time platform to assist security teams and developers in building and maintaining protected software. The startup just raised a $8.5 million seed round to continue building the technology, which is currently in beta testing. 

Before this raise, Heeler Security had been self-funded by the founding team, according to cofounder and CEO Hertz. They wanted to wait to raise until they had their main offering, ProductDNA, developed. 

He said that the team is in the process of filing to patent the product. 

“We wanted to be able to prove that out,” Hertz told Technical.ly. “Initially, when we went out and talked with folks, all the security professionals we talked to said, ‘Man, this is just, this would be transformational. But again, I don’t think you can do it.’ And you have to overcome that burden.”

This seed round was led by Norwest Venture Partners, with significant participation from fellow Palo Alto-based firm Storm Ventures. The funds allow for three years of operations, Hertz said, but he anticipates raising additional capital before then. 

ProductDNA, Hertz explained, brings together the code, behavior and business context of applications. Instead of teams reacting to security issues, the aim is to embed real-time security measures. 

“Our goal here is really to be transformational in terms of application security,” Hertz said. “Really trying to work with organizations … and ensure that applications can be built securely, resilient, and really are ready for the future, right? Withstanding both present-day threats but also the future threats that will evolve.”

Heeler Security worked on problem and solution validation with more than 100 research partners in 2023, per Hertz. In 2024, those entities turned into design partners, which range from early-stage startups to Fortune 200 financial institutions. Hertz declined to provide further details about the partners.

The team is currently holding demos of the product, which Hertz said the team plans to have more broadly available later this year. 

Heeler Security has been hiring quite a bit this year, adding six people to its team, bringing the staff to 12. The team, Hertz said, plans to hire one more product engineer this year.

The founding team of four hails from the DC area and Los Angeles. Hertz met cofounder Chris DeRamus while working as the chief revenue officer of DivvyCloud. DeRamus was the founder and CTO of the Arlington cloud security startup, which was acquired by the Boston cybersecurity company Rapid7 in 2020.  

James Green and Trever McKee, the two other founders out of California, led the acquiring side of that deal at Rapid7, Hertz said. 

From meeting there, the group began to commiserate and brainstorm about application security and the many gaps that exist in that industry. The idea for Heeler Security came out of their spending time together in DeRamus’ backyard one day. 

“We got to work together for many years, and really formed an incredible bond,” Hertz said, “although we’re on separate coasts.”