Cloud Access Security Broker Netskope Raises $100M

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Cloud access security broker (CASB) Netskope has closed a $100 million funding round to bring its enterprise cloud security platform to more businesses, the company announced Tuesday.

The oversubscribed Series E round was led by existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Accel, and brings the company's funding total to $231.4 million.

Netskope claims to be the most well-funded company in the CASB market, which Gartner said last year will go from 5 percent penetration in 2015 to 85 percent in 2020. In 2016 Netskope tripled its revenue from 2015, grew its team to a headcount of more than 350, and added leading enterprise customers.

The Netskope Active Platform is designed to replace traditional security products with content and context awareness, and the company told TechCrunch that it processes “tens of billions” of cloud transactions per day.

“When we founded Netskope, we knew that the far-reaching impact of the cloud would require a fundamentally new approach to security. We started with CASB and now we’re expanding our cloud security platform to take on additional challenges,” Sanjay Beri, founder and CEO, Netskope said in a statement.

“This approach has been met with a firestorm of support from CIOs and CISOs alike who have become frustrated by a security industry that has lagged behind the technology it is charged with protecting. Today’s investment gives us the fuel we need to make that vision a reality for enterprises across the world. We’re delighted that our existing investors’ vision for the future of security maps so closely to our own, and couldn’t be happier to welcome Sapphire and Geodesic to the Netskope team.”

Beri also told TechCrunch that the funding round may be Netskope's last on its way to an IPO. Existing investors Social Capital and Iconiq Capital also participated in the round, along with new investors Sapphire Ventures and Geodesic Capital.