Netskope Valuation Soars to $7.5B After $300M Funding Round

Netskope Secures $300 Million Investment

Netskope, a company specializing in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture, announced a $300 million investment on Friday.

This funding round results in a post-money valuation of $7.5 billion for the organization.

Investment Details

The investment was significantly oversubscribed and spearheaded by ICONIQ Growth.

Several existing investors also participated, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Base Partners, Sapphire Ventures, and Geodesic Capital.

Company Mission and Vision

Netskope co-founder and CEO, Sanjay Beri, explained to TechCrunch that the company, since its inception in 2012, has focused on assisting organizations with their digital transformations.

Their core objective is to identify and safeguard an organization’s most critical asset: sensitive data.

“Existing security solutions were inadequate for the evolving digital landscape,” Beri stated.

“We envisioned a transformation of the security market to enable seamless digital transformation, and we’ve been diligently building towards that goal for nearly a decade.”

Funding History

This latest round adds to Netskope’s impressive funding track record.

In February of last year, the company secured $340 million, achieving a valuation of almost $3 billion.

Prior to that, a $168.7 million round was completed in late 2018.

Strategic Capital Allocation

According to Beri, the company wasn’t actively seeking additional funding.

This investment was initiated by existing stakeholders with a comprehensive understanding of Netskope’s operations.

“While we could have potentially raised $1 billion, our current capital position is strong,” Beri commented.

“Maintaining a robust balance sheet is advantageous, and our ultimate aim is to become the most influential cybersecurity company globally.”

Future Investments and Growth

Netskope recently concluded a “three-year project focused on establishing the largest cloud network, providing 15-millisecond latency to users worldwide.”

The new funds will be allocated to ongoing research and development, platform expansion, and enhancing the company’s go-to-market strategy.

This investment will support meeting the growing demand in a market projected to reach $30 billion in value by 2024.

The company has already demonstrated substantial growth, exceeding the market average of 50% over the past year, even before the pandemic.

Total Funding and Potential IPO

With this latest investment, the total funding raised by the Santa Clara-based Netskope exceeds $1 billion, as reported by Crunchbase.

Given the substantial capital raised, a potential initial public offering (IPO) is a logical next step.

Beri acknowledged that Netskope is currently prepared for an IPO, but doesn’t require it for traditional reasons like capital raising or increased marketing.

“An IPO is a future consideration, but we likely won’t pursue another private funding round,” Beri concluded.