Dive Brief:
- Security as a Service startup StackPath recently raised $150 million in new funding from private equity firm ABRY Partners, according to an announcement.
- The funding represents one of the largest single financing rounds for a private cybersecurity firm, according to StackPath.
- Founded last year, the company has already raised a total of $180 million and is promising to create disruption in the security space through its "frictionless and scalable security platform."
Dive Insight:
StackPath was founded just one year ago, but has already broken the startup mold by raising $180 million and acquiring at least four other startups that provide different kinds of cloud security services for businesses, according to Lance Crosby, CEO of StackPath.
Crosby is also the founder and former chairman and CEO of SoftLayer Technologies, a company bought by IBM for $2 billion in 2013. The company reportedly served as the foundation of IBM's Cloud Computing division.
"The StackPath platform is an integrated response to a fragmented problem created by too many individual, appliance-based, bolt-on security solutions," explained Crosby in a press release. "It's time to give businesses internet services that have security built in, not bolted on—so they can be reliable guardians of their most precious assets.”
The security sector has seen significant turmoil in the last few months. Last month, Symantec Corp. agreed to buy Blue Coat Systems Inc. for $4.65 billion; Bloomberg reported that security firm FireEye hired Morgan Stanley to help field interested buyers; and rumors circulated that Intel intended to sell its cybersecurity business.
Many security companies have seen their valuations plummet in the competitive market. But StackPath is trying to offer something different, though it remains to be seen exactly what that will be. The first StackPath product will be a Secure Content Delivery service, with other services rolling out shortly thereafter, according to the company.
