Earlier today, we announced that Iconiq Capital and new board advisor Will Griffith would be joining our team and leading a sizable new investment in Netskope. I wanted to take a minute to share my thoughts about this important moment for our industry and what it means for Netskope’s future.
To start, we couldn’t be more pleased to have Will join our team as a board advisor. First and foremost, he’s an excellent cultural fit for the company. He embraces the transparency, collaboration, openness and innovation that is the hallmark of Netskope’s culture, and he believes in our core focus of building companies for the long haul. He brings a tremendous wealth of experience to Netskope, having served in roles at Technology Crossover Ventures, The Beacon Group and Morgan Stanley prior to joining Iconiq Capital. This experience will be invaluable to us as we continue to scale our operations to accelerate the rapid adoption of cloud services in the enterprise.
Regarding the market, this investment comes at a great time for Netskope. We’ve seen a sea change in the past year in the adoption of both cloud services and cloud security solutions. What used to be an opaque challenge for IT has transformed into one of the most pressing security priorities for CIOs and CISOs today, as more organizations sanction cloud apps and simultaneously come to terms with just how many of their employees are using unsanctioned apps. Increasingly, engaged stakeholders in some of the largest healthcare, insurance, banking, manufacturing, technology, retail, and utility organizations are devoting significant budgetary resources to improve their security posture. We’re also seeing that large, midsize and high-growth enterprises increasingly require a solution that allows them to mitigate risk, prevent data loss, and govern usage in cloud apps – sanctioned or unsanctioned – beyond simply “allowing” or “blocking” a particular app. And we’re seeing this across customers that rank among the world’s top ten healthcare, insurance, banking, retail, and manufacturing brands, as well as a large swath of mid to large enterprise companies, and some of the most diverse and cutting-edge high-tech, energy and utility companies.
We’ve observed this shift in the market, and as a result have grown our headcount to more than 250 employees, enhanced our cloud and hybrid cloud product with the industry’s first on-premises CASB and added an impressive roster of customers and partners. From customer support and success to R&D to sales and marketing, we’re continuing to attract the best minds in the business and ensuring our open, transparent and collaborative culture is always top of mind. We’re heading into new markets and continuing to innovate rapidly and ensure that we are providing the absolute best solutions in the market today. It’s an exciting time for Netskope, and if you haven’t already taken a look at what we’re up to, I hope you’ll reach out to learn more.