The cybersecurity software market is red hot with both venture capitalists and private equity firms looking for their next runaway investment. Menlo Park-based investment firm TCV is becoming a bigger player in the cybersecurity market with its recent investment in Venafi, the provider of machine identity protection.
Venafi, out of Salt Lake City, Utah, was able to raise $100 million led by TCV, with participation from existing investors QuestMark Partners and NextEquity Partners. TCV’s general partner Jake Reynolds gets a seat on the board as a result of the investment. Proceeds from the round will go to expand, with $12.5 million of it earmarked for third-party developers in the first tranche of the company’s new Machine Identity Protection Development Fund.
When announcing the round of funding Venafi Chief Executive Jeff Hudson had nothing but praise for TCV’s backing of the company. “ TCV has a long history of partnering with the world’s leading technology firms, so we’re very excited about the opportunity to work with them,” Hudson said earlier this month in a press release announcing the fundraising. “Their investment and expertise will help us ensure that the world’s machines, including hardware and software from smart machines, virtual servers, applications, containers, and more, are connected, safe and secure.”
TCV, founded in 1995 and run by technology industry veterans, has been around the block having invested over $10 billion with exits through over 115 IPOs . TCV’s investments include Airbnb, Altiris, AxiomSL, Dollar Shave Club, EmbanetCompass, EtQ, ExactTarget, Expedia, Facebook, Fandango, GoDaddy, HomeAway, LinkedIn, Netflix, OSIsoft, Rent the Runway, Sitecore, Splunk, Spotify, Varsity Tutors, and Zillow.
More recently TCV has been focusing on the cybersecurity market and for good reason. As hackers get more sophisticated and companies move more of their data to the cloud there is an increased focus on products and services that will protect their data and thus the increased interest on the part of investors. “DevOps and IoT are driving growth in the number of machines thanks to cloud computing, virtualization, and the proliferation of connected devices,” Reynolds of TCV said when announcing the Venafi investment. “Venafi is well-positioned to provide the machine identity protection for enterprise machines, and we look forward to supporting the Venafi team as they continue to scale in this rapidly expanding market.”
