BigID has experienced rapid investment growth, securing $94 million across three funding rounds beginning in January 2018. The company continued this trajectory today with the announcement of a $70 million Series D round, resulting in a $1 billion valuation.

This funding round was jointly led by Salesforce Ventures and Tiger Global, with contributions from Glynn Capital, as well as existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners, and Boldstart Ventures. To date, BigID has raised nearly $165 million in just over two years.

BigID is attracting significant investment by developing a comprehensive security and privacy platform. When initially speaking with CEO and co-founder Dimitri Sirota in 2018, his focus was on a data discovery product designed to assist companies in managing GDPR compliance and identifying their most sensitive data. However, the startup has since broadened its scope and objectives considerably.

“Our focus evolved, I believe, from the time we last spoke in September, shifting from a leading data discovery and privacy solution to a platform centered around data intelligence, leveraging our distinctive approach to discovery and insight,” Sirota explained.

This evolution encompasses the capability for both BigID and external developers to create applications utilizing their platform—a feature that likely appealed to investor Salesforce Ventures. Salesforce pioneered the concept of allowing third parties to build and market applications on its platform. Sirota indicated that their marketplace currently features applications developed solely by BigID, with plans to open it to third-party developers in 2021.

While specific revenue growth figures were not disclosed, Sirota anticipates substantial revenue increases this year, and he believes his investors recognize the considerable market potential.

The company currently employs 235 individuals and intends to expand its workforce to 300 in the coming year. Despite a temporary hiring freeze during the initial phase of the pandemic in Q2, Sirota confirmed that no layoffs were necessary. As hiring resumes in 2021, a key priority is enhancing diversity across all organizational levels, from the board of directors to the executive team and general staff.

He stated that early international expansion, facilitated by previous investments, has enabled them to cultivate a more diverse workforce. “We have a global team, established early on, which contributes to diversity within the company. However, we recognize the need for further improvement, particularly regarding the composition of our board and executive leadership, and we are actively addressing this,” he said.

Regarding this latest funding round, Sirota explained that, consistent with previous rounds, they were not actively seeking additional capital. However, given the ongoing economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic, they decided to secure funding to continue developing the BigID platform. “We haven’t proactively sought funding since our seed round; each round has been initiated by investor interest, making the process relatively straightforward,” he noted. He further reported having five years of financial runway and a significantly more mature platform, with plans to accelerate sales and marketing efforts in 2021.

The company’s prior funding rounds included a $14 million Series A in January 2018, a $30 million Series B in June of the same year, and a $50 million Series C in September 2019.