By Manya Saini
(Reuters) – Huntress, the small business-focused cybersecurity startup founded by former hackers for the U.S. government, was valued at over $1.5 billion after raising $150 million in its latest funding round.
Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, late-stage tech investor Meritech Capital and Huntress’ existing backer Sapphire Ventures led the round, the company said on Tuesday.
Huntress raised more than double the amount, compared with its fundraising in May 2023, as cybersecurity continues to attract funding from venture capital firms.
Trends like remote working are prompting businesses to bolster their digitization efforts, especially on protecting their computer networks from cyber attacks, driving demand for cybersecurity products.
Huntress caters to “underserved and under-protected” small and mid-market companies, since most firms tailor their products to suit bigger enterprises.
“Huntress is not cybersecurity for the Fortune 500, we’re cybersecurity for the Fortune 5,000,000,” said co-founder and CEO Kyle Hanslovan, a former cyber operator at the National Security Agency who has also served in the Air Force supporting offensive cyber operations.
The company raised capital “to escalate the arms race against cybercriminals,” he said, adding that it would rapidly expand the number of products on its platform.
Huntress may go public in the future but was not focusing on it right now, Hanslovan said.
The company was founded in 2015 and has over 100,000 customers, according to its website. It has only “scratched the surface in terms of the opportunity,” said Kleiner Perkins partner Everett Randle.
(Writing by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
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