Boston-based company Snyk has an innovative approach to security. Instead of handing these responsibilities off to a security team, it has built security into the development process with an open-source product to drive interest in the platform. Setting out to revolutionize the security industry, Snyk encourages developers to prioritize security during the software development lifecycle, instead of treating it as an afterthought.
This works by finding and fixing vulnerabilities and license violations in open source dependencies and container images. Snyk has experienced extraordinary momentum, with more than 275% revenue growth and 100% employee growth, while continuing collaboration with clients like Google, Salesforce, Revolut, and ASOS.
In January, Snyk announced a $150 million investment, bringing its valuation to $1 billion and gaining the firm unicorn status. Now, just nine months later, the company has announced another hefty injection of funding of $200 million, expanding its valuation to $2.6 billion. The Series D round, which was led by Addition, brings Snyk's total funding to $450 million. Other investors include Accel, Amity, Boldstart, Canaan Partners, Coatue, GV, Salesforce Ventures, Stripes, Tiger Global, and Trend Forward.
The additional capital will be used to power the company’s global expansion efforts and double down on product research and development.
"We always knew that we wanted to be, you know, a public company someday," Peter McKay, Chief Executive Officer of Snyk, told the Business Journal. "Now you have enough money to kind of make it your time, determine when it's right for you to go public because I don't have to go public to raise money; I've got a lot of money in the bank today."
Founded in 2015, Snyk offers its unique products on a freemium basis, with the option of paying for additional premium features. Securing external libraries has become essential in the modern working space that includes constant interaction with cloud platforms. The company currently has 375 employees and plans to add 100 more in the next year.
Snyk is also currently in the process of moving to its first dedicated office space in Boston which has a planned square footage of 37,000. It is set to be ready by January 1, 2021.
