Bot-Detection Startup Spur Secures $200 Million Funding
by Vivek Gupta - 16 hours ago - 3 min read
Spur Intelligence has raised $200 million in an investment led by Insight Partners, giving the cybersecurity startup fresh capital to expand its bot, proxy and VPN detection technology.
The Florida-based company tracks the infrastructure behind suspicious online traffic, helping businesses identify whether a connection is coming through a residential proxy, VPN, data center or anonymization service. Spur did not disclose its valuation or say whether the deal included secondary share sales.
Funding arrives as automated traffic accelerates
The investment comes as companies face growing volumes of automated internet activity linked to fraud, scraping, fake accounts and AI agents.
Spur’s 2026 IP Intelligence Study found that 94% of surveyed organizations had encountered residential proxies or anonymizing VPNs during security incidents. Nearly half said they planned to invest in or upgrade an IP intelligence product within the following 12 months.
| Key figure | Reported data |
|---|---|
| Insight Partners-led investment | $200 million |
| Organizations seeing proxies or VPNs in security incidents | 94% |
| Organizations planning IP intelligence investment | Nearly 50% |
| VPN and proxy services monitored by Spur | More than 1,000 |
| Connection attributes analyzed | More than 20 |
Residential proxy networks are particularly difficult to detect because they route traffic through consumer devices and home internet connections. That can make automated attacks appear to come from ordinary users rather than data centers traditionally associated with bot activity.
Spur focuses on the network behind suspicious sessions
Founded in 2017 by former US Department of Defense engineers Riley Kilmer and Ethan Smith, Spur analyzes IP addresses, routing patterns, network ownership, geography and proxy tunnel information.
Its data is used during account creation, login and payment activity to identify higher-risk connections. Customers can then apply additional verification, investigate the session or block the traffic.
Spur says it continuously evaluates hundreds of millions of IP addresses and monitors more than 1,000 VPN and proxy services.
Fraud losses are strengthening demand
In one customer case study, Spur said a global technology company linked more than 90% of fraudulent trial sign-ups to high-risk anonymized connections.
After adding Spur’s data, the company reportedly reduced fake account creation by more than 90% and avoided over $500,000 in related costs. The figures were published by Spur and have not been independently audited.
The case highlights the wider financial impact of automated abuse. Fake accounts can increase infrastructure costs, support phishing campaigns and allow criminals to test stolen credentials or payment information at scale.
AI agents are making bot detection more complicated
Bot detection is also becoming harder as legitimate AI agents generate more online activity.
Businesses now need to distinguish between malicious automation, search crawlers, approved software agents and AI tools acting on behalf of real users. That makes simple human-versus-bot classification less useful than identifying where the traffic originated and how it was routed.
Spur plans to use the funding to expand its product, network coverage, integrations and customer operations. The deal gives the company more resources to compete in a cybersecurity market where concealed and automated traffic is becoming a larger part of normal internet activity.