Vectra AI, a start-up based in San Jose, California, announced $130 million in new funding for its work in automated cyber threat detection and response. The company’s mission is “to see and stop threats before they become breaches.”
“Over the past year, we have witnessed a continuous series of the most impactful and widespread cyberattacks in history. To protect their employees and digital assets, our customers require security solutions that are smarter than today’s adversaries and provide coverage for cloud, data centers and SaaS applications” said Hitesh Sheth, president and chief executive officer at Vectra. “As we look to the future, Blackstone’s global presence, operational resources, and in-house technology expertise will help us achieve our mission to become one of the dominant cybersecurity companies in the world.”
The new $130 funding round was led by funds managed by Blackstone Growth. This brings Vectra’s total funding since inception to more than $350 million at a post-money $1.2 billion valuation.
Viral Patel, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said: “Vectra has a proven ability to stop in-progress attacks in the cloud, on corporate networks, and in private data centers for some of the top organizations in the world. The company has experienced extraordinary success through its commitment to combining innovative AI technology, first-class customer service, and top talent, and Blackstone is excited to become part of the Vectra team.”
For 2020, the Vectra reported a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) exceeding 100 percent, while sales of its Cognito Detect product for Microsoft Office 365 have grown at a rate of over 700 percent.
Vectra AI is headed by Hitesh Sheth (president and CEO), who previously was chief operating officer at Aruba Networks. Hitesh joined Aruba from Juniper Networks, where he was EVP/GM for its switching business and before that, SVP for the Service Layer Technologies group, which included security. Prior to Juniper, Hitesh held a number of senior management positions at Cisco.
