Netskope raises a whopping $340M for its Secure Access Server Edge

Netskope, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, raised $340 million in a new funding for its secure access server edge (SASE) and cloud security solutions.

The funding round led by new investor Sequoia Capital Global Equities. New investors Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and PSP Investments participated, as well as all existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, Base Partners, ICONIQ Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Geodesic Capital and Social Capital. Following this investment, the company has achieved a valuation of nearly $3 billion.

The Netskope Security Cloud Platform provides visibility and real-time data and threat protection when accessing cloud services, websites, and private apps from anywhere, on any device. The solution combines next-generation secure web gateway (SWG) capabilities, zero trust secure access, advanced machine learning to detect unauthorized data exfiltration, and advanced threat protection to prevent cloud-based attacks that often evade legacy defenses.

“When we started Netskope in 2012, it was clear that the cloud was changing everything, but few saw how it would disrupt security,” said Sanjay Beri, CEO of Netskope. “Since inception, we have always focused on architecting a true cloud platform that, over time, will secure and govern all of an enterprise’s traffic as the perimeter evolves into a new high-performance worldwide cloud edge. This latest investment from the top enterprise and security investors in the world is proof of not only our enormous success in establishing Netskope as the new gold standard for cloud-delivered security, but also that the astounding level of global demand we’re seeing today is just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Netskope has become the unrivaled leader driving innovation across cloud, data and network security, which makes up the largest part of today’s security market,” said Patrick Fu, managing partner at Sequoia Capital Global Equities. “Netskope is raising the bar for game changers who are successfully pushing beyond the limitations of existing technology to reshape a market. Sanjay and the entire Netskope team are on an incredible trajectory, and we are thrilled to partner with this talented team for the long term.”

Netskope 2019 Momentum Highlights

• 80 percent year-over-year growth in number of customers, which includes 25 percent of the Fortune 100
• Nearly 50 percent growth in employee headcount, with significant investments in engineering and sales
• Expanded executive bench to include CFO Drew Del Matto, Chief Development Officer David Wu, and SVP Platform Engineering Joe DePalo
• Opened new worldwide offices in Paris, São Paulo, Seattle, New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, Tokyo and a new headquarters in Santa Clara
• Expanded internationally in Australia, Singapore, Chile, Columbia, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Spain, and Germany
• Named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) for the third year in a row
• Ranked among the Forbes Cloud 100 for the third year in a row, rising 25 spots from last year’s placement to #64
• Launched NewEdge, the globally distributed network that enables the Netskope cloud-native security platform to deliver real-time security without compromising performance
• Released the industry’s only next-generation SWG solution that seamlessly consolidates inline cloud-native SWG, inline cloud-native CASB and Cloud DLP capabilities
• Unveiled Netskope Private Access, a cloud-based service for secure access to private enterprise applications in both the public cloud and the data center
• Opened 26 new data centers to allow Netskope to run on one of the world’s largest and fastest security networks NewEdge, enabling the Netskope cloud-native security platform to deliver real-time security without compromising performance