Secerno has outlined aggressive plans to take ownership of the database security space after bagging $16m in a Series B funding round led by Amadeus Capital Partners.

The UK-based vendor will plough some of the funds into research and development, with the rest being spent on international sales and channel expansion.

Chief executive Steve Hurn said Secerno plans to swell its headcount from about 45 to 100 in 2009. Despite only closing its first deal in May 2007, Hurn said he expected Secerno to be profitable by the fourth quarter.

“We are an aggressive company with an aggressive plan. We want to own and extend the space,” he said. “We are delighted to have Amadeus on board as it is not just cash it is bringing to the party. It has made investments in similar fields working with the likes of Clearswift.”

Hurn stressed that UK partners would not go without. The vendor, which has 11 registered UK resellers, will take on a new partner manager at the beginning of August. It has also just recruited James Spooner from Secerno reseller Lodoga to spearhead its customer services and support operation.

Some of the cash will be used to strengthen sales operations and appoint distribution channels in central and southern Europe.

Hurn claimed the database security market is growing rapidly as firms of all sizes look to prevent external and internal breaches.

“It is accepted that perimeter security is a good measure, but is not enough,” he said. “We are often put in the same pot as Imperva and Guardium because no one else can do what we do, which is to block with zero false positives.”

Richard Anton, a partner at Amadeus, said: “You do not need to look too far to find headlines on privacy breaches. And Secerno has great technology with which to address that market opportunity.”