Security startup Vectra Networks steps out of the shadows with a chunky $18M

So Vectra Netoworks locked down $17.8 million in funding before it even launched (which happened today).

And they say we’re in a bubble!

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The startup does network security. Backers include Khosla Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures (former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s fund), and IA Ventures.

Via email, company reps tell us that chief executive Hitesh Sheth used to head up operations at Aruba Networks (enterprise mobility, BYOD, LANs, you get the picture). Before that, he was an exec at Juniper.

Another fun side note: One of the Vectra’s advisors is a Washington, D.C., collective, RiceHadleyGates, a firm founded by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley, and Dr. Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense in the Bush and Obama administrations. Non-founding member Jane Holl Lute was also the former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.

That’s what we in the industry call a brain trust.

In a statement, the startup outlined its mission:

Vectra’s approach to network security is different: It assumes your network is already penetrated because your defensive technology has already failed. (And, for most networks, that’s the case.) Vectra technology tracks penetrations real-time, giving security officers instant awareness of the most-serious threats and creating multiple opportunities to block them.