Just two years ago, VC funding to cybersecurity startups caught fire. $23 billion flooded the industry, per Crunchbase. But in 2023, new cyber startups saw only a third of that — the result of exceptional growth in 2021, inflated valuations and investors wary of market volatility.
But it’s always there some winners in down times.
Yesterday, NinjaOne, an IT platform for endpoint management, security and visibility, was announced that it raised $231.5 million in a Series C funding round led by Iconiq Growth.
The mammoth round, led by Frank Slootman, chairman and CEO of Snowflake, and Amit Agarwal, president of Datadog, values NinjaOne at $1.9 billion, according to co-founder and CEO Sal Sferlazza.
Sferlazza says NinjaOne wasn’t looking to raise money, but received inbound interest from “many” potential investors — including Iconiq, apparently.
“Iconiq has a strong history of helping leading companies like Snowflake, Datadog and Crowdstrike realize their potential,” Sferlazza told TechCrunch in an email interview. “We believed an investment from Iconiq would help ensure NinjaOne is well positioned for long-term success. We remain focused on scaling our business and team to continue to improve our product offerings and support our growth globally as our customer base and product offerings mature.”
Image Credits: NinjaOne
Sferlazza and NinjaOne president and CFO Chris Matarese launched Austin, Texas-based NinjaOne in 2014. Sferlazza says he was closely involved in early development efforts, working with NinjaOne’s founding team to build endpoint management tools , repair and support.
“We recognized a huge need to help organizations manage their endpoints – a need that has only grown with the pandemic wave of remote and hybrid work,” he said. “Endpoints represent a significant risk and opportunity in the post-pandemic era, and — amid the unprecedented rise of genetic artificial intelligence — NinjaOne is focused on automating and simplifying IT operations for our customers.”
Designed to integrate with existing IT and security platforms, NinjaOne’s tools run the gamut from remote device monitoring and data backup to software development, alerts, scripting and application automation. The company claims to currently manage over seven million endpoints for more than 17,000 customers, including Hello Fresh, Nissan, Nvidia, Pabst Brewing Company, California State and Oxford University.
“When we founded NinjaOne, we set out to develop a broad range of products that put customer success first,” said Sferlazza. “That remains our number one priority today, and that focus has enabled us to grow a strong business.”
Today, NinjaOne’s most warches stands at $282.7 million as its revenue is up 70% year over year.
Sferlazza says the proceeds from the latest funding round will go toward expanding NinjaOne’s ~1,000-strong team and investing in automating “the hardest parts” of IT. “[S]Optimizing endpoint management, strengthening security and rapidly deploying new technology… has allowed us to deliver unparalleled customer success,” he continued.
Added Iconiq’s Roy Luo, who joined NinjaOne’s board, in a press release: “Under the outstanding leadership of Sal and Chris, NinjaOne has demonstrated impressive product velocity, driving increased market share, geographic expansion and growth customers. We are excited to support their dynamic energy, relentless commitment to customer success and continued growth trajectory through our global platform.”
