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Oversubscribed round fuels advancement of company’s enterprise cloud security platform
Netskope, the leader in cloud security, today announced the close of a $100 million Series E funding round led by existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Accel. Existing investors Social Capital and Iconiq Capital also participated in the round, as did new investors Sapphire Ventures and Geodesic Capital. The investment will fuel the advancement and go-to-market of the company’s enterprise cloud security platform, which addresses new security challenges precipitated by the rapid adoption of cloud services.
The oversubscribed round brings the company’s total amount raised to $231.4 million, making it the most well-funded cloud access security broker (CASB) and cementing its leadership in the growing cloud security market. The investment comes on the heels of a strong close to 2016, in which the company nearly tripled revenue when compared to 2015. During 2016, the company added leading enterprise customers in the retail, financial services, manufacturing, energy, and healthcare verticals, and grew global employee headcount to more than 350, with key hires made in the research and development, customer success, and threat research teams.
The exponential growth of cloud services has upended a security industry built on the foundational tenet of the network perimeter. This is exacerbated by the evolving way that people work, with employees accessing information from on-premises and remote locations and often from a combination of desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, enabling transactions to seamlessly traverse the network, cloud, and web across any endpoint. Most traditional security vendors address these challenges in silos and fail to look deep enough into transactions to see the bigger picture. This results in an incomplete contextual understanding and multiple weaknesses in enterprise defenses including:
- Data exfiltration by careless or malicious employees via unsanctioned cloud services
- Access to regulated information housed in company sanctioned cloud services from personal devices
- Access to data contained in cloud services from devices that allow users to go “direct-to-cloud”
- Propagation of malware and ransomware from threats that blend the use of cloud and web
- Websites that connect to cloud services to deliver content to visitors
Designed to be content- and context-aware and action-oriented, the Netskope Active Platform addresses this emerging security challenge, giving security teams the visibility and control necessary to allow employees to work efficiently in a service-, device-, and location-agnostic manner.
“When we founded Netskope, we knew that the far-reaching impact of the cloud would require a fundamentally new approach to security. We started with CASB and now we’re expanding our cloud security platform to take on additional challenges,” said Sanjay Beri, founder and CEO, Netskope. “This approach has been met with a firestorm of support from CIOs and CISOs alike who have become frustrated by a security industry that has lagged behind the technology it is charged with protecting. Today’s investment gives us the fuel we need to make that vision a reality for enterprises across the world. We’re delighted that our existing investors’ vision for the future of security maps so closely to our own, and couldn’t be happier to welcome Sapphire and Geodesic to the Netskope team.”
“The cloud has precipitated a tectonic shift in the enterprise that has led to broader implications for computing and security,” said Arif Janmohamed, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. “Since the beginning, Netskope has never shied away from addressing these implications and forging the path in one of the most important segments of security today. We are pleased to be a lead investor in this round of funding as Netskope continues to realize their vision of building an iconic, lasting cloud security company.”
“One of the guiding tenets of our investment strategy is find companies with right mix of vision and talent to tackle big challenges and seize upon disruptive moments,” said Eric Wolford, partner at Accel. “Netskope is one of those companies. Its focus on security for a cloud-first, cloud-scale world has equipped the company to solve the challenges facing security professionals today. The outlook for Netskope is bright, and I’m excited to see how the company will grow and define how cloud security should be done, not just today, but in the future as well.”
Founded and led by security industry veterans with more than 100 patents combined, Netskope’s cloud-scale security platform provides context-aware governance of all cloud usage in the enterprise in real-time, whether accessed from the corporate network, remote, or from a mobile device. This means that security professionals can understand risky activities, protect sensitive data, stop online threats, and respond to incidents in a way that fits how people work today. To learn more, visit our website or read the following blog posts:
- Read a post from Netskope CEO Sanjay Beri on what today’s round means for Netskope
- Read a post from lead investor Eric Wolford on Accel’s Medium publication
- Read a post from lead investor Arif Janmohamed on his Medium publication
About Netskope
Netskope is the leader in cloud security. Using patented technology, Netskope’s cloud-scale security platform provides context-aware governance of all cloud usage in the enterprise in real-time, whether accessed from the corporate network, remote, or from a mobile device. This means that security professionals can understand risky activities, protect sensitive data, stop online threats, and respond to incidents in a way that fits how people work today. With granular security policies, the most advanced cloud DLP, and unmatched breadth of workflows, Netskope is trusted by the largest companies in the world. Netskope — security evolved. To learn more, visit our website.