September 23, 2015 at 18:08Cloudflare Service Raises $ 100 Million and Is Fourth Most Expensive Cybersecurity Project
San Francisco-based startup Cloudflare received $ 100 million in another round of funding. The project works in the field of information security. Cloudflare's strategic investors were Chinese Baidu , Google Capital , Microsoft and chip maker Qualcomm . The leader of the round was Fidelity Corporation . The funds raised will go to expand influence in new markets.
Cloudflare optimizes websites, providing them with high speed and at the same time, a high degree of protection against threats such as DDoS attacks. Cloudflare is the fourth cybersecurity project to receive more than $ 100 million in funding. Prior to this, there were only three such projects in the world - Tanium , Zscaler and Crowdstrike .
Company CEO Matthew Prince hopes that strategic investors will help startups enter new markets. Cloudflare plans to invest part of the proceeds in the development of the mobile device market. Partnership with Microsoft will help the company sell services to large corporate customers. With the help of Baidu Cloudflare expects to get cooperation agreements with China faster, however, the company does not plan to enter the Chinese market directly. Cloudflare’s alliance with Baidu aims to help accelerate the exchange of traffic through the so-called great Chinese firewall, which is an Internet filter between China and the rest of the world. An unusual structure called a “virtual joint venture”.
According to Prince, Cloudflare has been breakeven for the past year and a half and has been marginal GAAP, with gross margins of 75%. Cloudflare continues to increase revenue at a pace that matches the best examples of SaaS companies, such as Workday or Salesforce , he said. According to PrivCo analysts, this year, the total investment for one quarter in cybersecurity startups for the first time exceeded $ 1 billion. This is likely to be taking place against the backdrop of increasing public concern about cyber attacks.
According to Prince, after 2017 Cloudflare expects to enter an IPO, reports the Financial Times.
At the very beginning of September, Tanium became one of the most expensive startups in the security market, Megamind reported . In the last round, he raised $ 120 million. In March, according to the results of the previous round, the company's valuation amounted to $ 1.7 billion. Now it has more than doubled and reached $ 3.5 billion. However, Tanium co-founder Orion Hindawi believes venture investors have become “more disciplined.” Now they are wary of investing money, because they know that some startups "do nothing except transfer money to marketing."
Cloudflare optimizes websites, providing them with high speed and at the same time, a high degree of protection against threats such as DDoS attacks. Cloudflare is the fourth cybersecurity project to receive more than $ 100 million in funding. Prior to this, there were only three such projects in the world - Tanium , Zscaler and Crowdstrike .
Company CEO Matthew Prince hopes that strategic investors will help startups enter new markets. Cloudflare plans to invest part of the proceeds in the development of the mobile device market. Partnership with Microsoft will help the company sell services to large corporate customers. With the help of Baidu Cloudflare expects to get cooperation agreements with China faster, however, the company does not plan to enter the Chinese market directly. Cloudflare’s alliance with Baidu aims to help accelerate the exchange of traffic through the so-called great Chinese firewall, which is an Internet filter between China and the rest of the world. An unusual structure called a “virtual joint venture”.
According to Prince, Cloudflare has been breakeven for the past year and a half and has been marginal GAAP, with gross margins of 75%. Cloudflare continues to increase revenue at a pace that matches the best examples of SaaS companies, such as Workday or Salesforce , he said. According to PrivCo analysts, this year, the total investment for one quarter in cybersecurity startups for the first time exceeded $ 1 billion. This is likely to be taking place against the backdrop of increasing public concern about cyber attacks.
According to Prince, after 2017 Cloudflare expects to enter an IPO, reports the Financial Times.
At the very beginning of September, Tanium became one of the most expensive startups in the security market, Megamind reported . In the last round, he raised $ 120 million. In March, according to the results of the previous round, the company's valuation amounted to $ 1.7 billion. Now it has more than doubled and reached $ 3.5 billion. However, Tanium co-founder Orion Hindawi believes venture investors have become “more disciplined.” Now they are wary of investing money, because they know that some startups "do nothing except transfer money to marketing."