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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Socket announced a $40 million Series B on October 22, 2024, led by Abstract Ventures. The company said the round brought its total funding to $65 million. In a later update on May 20, 2026, Socket announced a $60 million Series C at a $1 billion valuation and reported $125 million in total funding.
What Socket’s $40 million Series B included
Abstract Ventures led the October 2024 round. Elad Gil and Andreessen Horowitz also participated, along with angel investors Bret Taylor, Phil Venables, Scott Johnston, Christina Cacioppo, Ann Mather, and Tobias Lütke. Socket said it would use the funding to expand its engineering, product, and design teams. Socket’s Series B announcement reported the round and the company’s $65 million total funding at that time.
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TechCrunch also reported the financing on October 22, 2024, and described Socket’s product as a scanner for malicious activity in open-source components. Its report said the scanner alerted developers when dependencies or packages were added or updated and could optionally check open-source licensing. These are descriptions of the product at the time, not a complete current feature list. TechCrunch’s contemporaneous report provides additional context.
What Socket’s software does
Socket describes its product as software supply-chain security: it monitors open-source packages for behavior that may indicate a threat, rather than focusing only on known vulnerabilities. The company’s 2024 announcement cited backdoors, typo-squatting, and obfuscated code as examples of malicious behavior. It also said the product supported six programming languages and included license enforcement and reachability analysis. These are Socket’s descriptions in its 2024 announcement, not independent measurements of detection performance. Socket’s 2024 product description gives those details.
#1 Best Overall
- 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸: 5× 10/100/1000Mbps RJ45 Ports supporting Auto Negotiation and Auto MDI/MDIX.
- 𝗚𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆: Latest innovative energy-efficient technology greatly expands your network capacity with much less power consumption and helps save money.
- 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁: IEEE 802.3X flow control provides reliable data transfer and Fanless design ensures quiet operation.
- 𝗣𝗹𝘂𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆: Easy setup with no software installation or configuration needed.
- 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀: Prioritize your traffic and guarantee high quality of video or voice data transmission with Port-based 802.1p/DSCP QoS and IGMP Snooping.
In its May 2026 announcement, Socket described Socket Firewall as blocking malicious packages at install time. The company also highlighted reachability analysis for vulnerability triage and Certified Patches for remediation, and said it planned to extend coverage to browser extensions, code editor extensions, MCP servers, and AI tools. Those capabilities and plans are company-reported. Socket’s Series C announcement describes the later product direction.
What happened after the Series B
On May 20, 2026, Socket announced a $60 million Series C led by Thrive Capital at a $1 billion valuation. The company named Andreessen Horowitz, Abstract Ventures, and Capital One Ventures among the participating investors, and said the round brought its total funding to $125 million. That is the latest funding update among the sources cited here.
Rank #2
- GIGABIT ETHERNET PORTS: Features 5 x 1.0Gbps Ethernet ports for high-speed connectivity. Auto-negotiating ports detect the optimal speed for connected devices and work with existing Cat5e or Cat6 Ethernet cables.
- PLUG-AND-PLAY UNMANAGED NETWORK SWITCH: Simple plug-and-play setup with no software to install or configuration required.
- FLEXIBLE MOUNTING OPTIONS: Compact metal design supports desktop or wall-mount placement for versatile installation.
- SILENT & ENERGY-EFFICIENT OPERATION: Fanless design ensures silent performance, while IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet reduces power consumption without compromising high-speed network performance.
- REGIONAL COMPATIBILITY: Made for use in U.S. & CA only
Socket also reported growth in the scale of its stated reach: in 2024, it said it protected more than 7,500 organizations and 300,000 GitHub repositories; in 2026, it said it served more than 27,000 organizations and 1.5 million repositories, and blocked more than 10,000 supply-chain attacks each week. These are company-reported figures from announcements two years apart, not independently audited or directly comparable measures of effectiveness.
What the funding news does—and does not—show
The financing signals that investors backed Socket’s effort to build software for detecting and stopping risks in open-source dependencies. It does not, by itself, establish how well the product performs, what it costs, or whether it is suitable for a particular organization. The available announcements do not provide current pricing, customer contract terms, or independently audited efficacy results.
Rank #3
- GIGABIT ETHERNET PORTS: Features 8 x 1.0Gbps Ethernet ports for high-speed connectivity. Auto-negotiating ports detect the optimal speed for connected devices and work with existing Cat5e or Cat6 Ethernet cables.
- PLUG-AND-PLAY UNMANAGED NETWORK SWITCH: Simple plug-and-play setup with no software to install or configuration required.
- FLEXIBLE MOUNTING OPTIONS: Compact metal design supports desktop or wall-mount placement for versatile installation.
- SILENT & ENERGY-EFFICIENT OPERATION: Fanless design ensures silent performance, while IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet reduces power consumption without compromising high-speed network performance.
- REGIONAL COMPATIBILITY: Made for use in U.S. & CA only
Socket founder and CEO Feross Aboukhadijeh said the company was “not just catching vulnerabilities — we’re detecting and blocking malicious threats in real time.” That is the CEO’s characterization of Socket’s approach, not a guarantee that the product catches every attack. In the 2024 announcement, Jason Clinton, then identified as CISO at Anthropic, said Socket’s real-time threat detection helped strengthen Anthropic’s security posture. That is an attributed customer statement, not independent proof of results across other organizations.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- 8 GIGABIT PORTS: Features 8 RJ45 ports supporting 10/100/1000 Mbps speeds, providing high-speed wired network connectivity for computers, printers, gaming consoles, and other Ethernet-enabled devices
- PLUG AND PLAY SETUP: No configuration required; simply connect the switch to your network devices and it is ready to use immediately, making network expansion quick and hassle-free
- FANLESS QUIET DESIGN: The fanless design ensures silent operation, making this switch suitable for noise-sensitive environments such as home offices, bedrooms, or conference rooms
- STURDY METAL CONSTRUCTION: Built with a durable metal housing and shielded ports that provide reliable performance, better heat dissipation, and protection against electromagnetic interference
- TRAFFIC OPTIMIZATION: Supports IEEE 802.3x flow control and advanced traffic optimization technology to reduce data bottlenecks and ensure smooth, efficient data transfer across your network
Rank #4
- One Switch Made to Expand Network-16× 10/100/1000Mbps RJ45 Ports supporting Auto Negotiation and Auto MDI/MDIX
- Gigabit that Saves Energy-Latest innovative energy-efficient technology greatly expands your network capacity with much less power consumption and helps save money
- Reliable and Quiet-IEEE 802.3X flow control provides reliable data transfer and Fanless design ensures quiet operation
- Plug and Play-Easy setup with no software installation or configuration needed
- Advanced Software Features-Prioritize your traffic and guarantee high quality of video or voice data transmission with Port-based 802.1p/DSCP QoS and IGMP Snooping
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