With the rapid expansion of cloud adoption in 2020 due to the pandemic, Lacework, a cloud security startup, found itself well-positioned to assist organizations in safeguarding their cloud native applications. The company has experienced substantial growth, reporting a 300% increase in revenue year-over-year for the second consecutive year.

This impressive performance has resulted in a $525 million Series D funding round. While the company has not disclosed a precise valuation, it confirmed that it surpasses $1 billion, a figure consistent with the size of this investment. The funding round was spearheaded by Sutter Hill and Altimeter Capital, with participation from D1 Capital Management, Coatue, Dragoneer Investment Group, Liberty Global Ventures, Snowflake Ventures, and Tiger Global Management. To date, Lacework has secured nearly $600 million in funding.

Lacework’s CEO, Dan Hubbard, attributes the significant investor interest to the comprehensive nature of the company’s security offerings. He explained, “We empower businesses to develop securely within the cloud, and our solutions cover a wide range of market segments, enabling our customers to achieve this goal.”

He further detailed that this encompasses a variety of services, including configuration and compliance checks, security measures for infrastructure as code, vulnerability scanning during both build and runtime phases, and runtime security specifically designed for cloud native environments such as Kubernetes and containers.

Alongside revenue growth, Lacework has been rapidly expanding its workforce. The company began the year with 92 employees and concluded it with over 200, and anticipates doubling that number by the end of the current year. Hubbard recognizes the importance of fostering a diverse workforce, acknowledging that the technology sector as a whole has historically struggled in this area.

He stated that they are collaborating with internal teams to promote change, as well as supporting external organizations dedicated to providing education and skills development to underrepresented groups. “By addressing the issue at an earlier stage, we believe we can create a larger pool of qualified candidates for future hiring,” he said.

The company initially developed within Sutter Hill and is constructed utilizing the Snowflake platform. Approximately $20 million of the current funding comes from Snowflake’s newly established venture division, which is investing in a key partner.

“We were among Snowflake’s earliest customers, and they were an early adopter of our technology. Our platform is built on the Snowflake data cloud, and their venture arm’s investment will further solidify our partnership,” Hubbard explained.

Sutter Hill investor Mike Speiser views Lacework as a pivotal investment for his firm. “Similar to Snowflake at a comparable stage, Lacework is achieving revenue growth exceeding 300% annually, making it one of Sutter Hill Ventures’ most significant and promising portfolio companies,” he stated.