GitGuardian, a cybersecurity platform that helps companies detect sensitive data hidden in public and private code repositories, has raised $12 million in a series A round of funding led by London-based Balderton Capital, with participation from GitHub cofounder Scott Chacon and Docker co-creator Solomon Hykes. Founded out of Paris in 2017, GitGuardian scans all GitHub public activity in real-time to identify private data such as database login credentials, API keys, cryptographic keys, and more. The company works with more than 200 API providers, spanning payment systems, cloud services, messaging apps, crypto wallets, and more to ensure private information that does leak out into the public domain is identified swiftly and the company is notified. The French startup said that it has sent out more than 400,000 alerts since its inception. The type of private data that GitGuardian is looking to protect is what is known in the industry as "secrets," and includes anything that can be used by unauthorized third-parties to access a system (e.g. a cloud or database) -- such as passwords and API tokens.