Netskope Cloud Security Platform Raises Valuation to $ 7.5 Billion After $ 300 Million Rise – TechCrunch

Netskope, focused on the Secure Access Service Edge architecture, on Friday announced a $ 300 million investment round on a $ 7.5 billion post-money valuation.

The oversubscribed insider investing was led by ICONIQ Growth, which was joined by other existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Base Partners, Sapphire Ventures and Geodesic Capital.

Netskope co-founder and CEO Sanjay Beri told TechCrunch that since its inception in 2012, the company’s mission has been to guide businesses through their digital transformation by finding what is most valuable to them – the sensitive data – and protecting it.

“What we had in the market before was not working for this world,†he said. “The theory is that digital transformation is inevitable, so our vision is to transform that market so people can do it, and that’s what we’re building almost a decade later.”

With this new round, Netskope continues to garner important rounds: he raised 340 million dollars last February, which earned him a valuation of nearly 3 billion dollars. Prior to that, it was a $ 168.7 million round in late 2018.

Similar to other tours, the company wasn’t actively looking for new capital, but it was “an inside tour with people who know all about us,” Beri said.

“The reality is that we could have raised $ 1 billion, but we don’t need more capital,†he added. “However, having a strong and continuing track record is not a bad thing. We are fortunate to be in this situation and our goal is to be the most effective cybersecurity company in the world.

Beri said the company has just completed a “three-year journey to build the largest cloud network within 15 milliseconds of anyone in the world,” and intends to invest the new funds in continued R&D. , expanding its platform and Netskope’s go-to-market strategy. to meet demand from a market estimated at $ 30 billion by 2024, he said.

Even before the pandemic, the company has experienced strong hypergrowth over the past year, surpassing average annual market growth by 50%, he added.

Today’s investment brings the total raised by Santa Clara-based Netskope to just over $ 1 billion, according to Crunchbase The data.

With the accumulation of this type of capital by the company, the next natural step would be to become a public company. Beri admits that Netskope could go public now, even if he doesn’t have to for traditional fundraising or marketing reasons.

“The IPO is a day on our way, but you probably won’t see us raise another private round,†Beri said.