Cybersecurity
Upwind raises $300 million at $3.8 billion valuation
Upwind said it raised about $300 million at a valuation of roughly $3.8 billion, less than eight months after a $250 million Series B, with Bessemer Venture Partners and TCV leading the deal.
- Upwind said it raised about $300 million at a valuation of roughly $3.8 billion.
- The company had raised $250 million in January at a valuation of about $1.5 billion.
- Bessemer Venture Partners and TCV led the round, with Craft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Greylock, Cyberstarts, Leaders Fund and Alta Park Capital also taking part.
- Upwind said it had worked with Nvidia on AI security research that found its system could detect malicious prompts aimed at large language models with about 95% precision.
- The company was founded in 2022 by Amiram Shachar and former Spot.io colleagues, and Spot.io had been acquired by NetApp for $450 million in 2020.
Upwind said it had raised about $300 million at a valuation of roughly $3.8 billion. The financing came less than eight months after a $250 million Series B that valued the company at about $1.5 billion.
Bessemer Venture Partners and TCV led the round. Craft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Greylock, Gili Raanan's Cyberstarts, Leaders Fund and Alta Park Capital also joined, and Penny Jar Capital was already among its backers.
Salesforce Ventures had invested tens of millions of dollars in Upwind only months earlier at a $1.6 billion valuation. The article said the company had been valued at about $800 million to $900 million in late 2024 before those later financings.
Amiram Shachar founded Upwind in 2022 with Liran Polak, Lavi Ferdman and Tal Zuri, who had previously worked together at Spot.io. The article said NetApp bought Spot.io for $450 million in 2020.
Upwind said its software watched live cloud environments rather than depending mainly on static scans. It also said research with Nvidia showed its system could identify malicious prompts aimed at large language models with about 95% precision while keeping real-time performance.
Named in this story
People
- Amiram Shachar
- founded Upwind with former Spot.io colleagues
- Liran Polak
- co-founded Upwind after working at Spot.io
- Lavi Ferdman
- co-founded Upwind after working at Spot.io
- Tal Zuri
- co-founded Upwind after working at Spot.io
Companies
- Upwind
- raised about $300 million at a roughly $3.8 billion valuation
- Bessemer Venture Partners
- led the new financing
- TCV
- co-led the new financing
- Craft Ventures
- participated in the round
- Salesforce Ventures
- participated and had invested previously
- Greylock
- participated in the round
- Gili Raanan's Cyberstarts
- participated in the round
- Leaders Fund
- participated in the round
- Alta Park Capital
- participated in the round
- Penny Jar Capital
- was already an investor in Upwind
- Nvidia
- worked with Upwind on AI security research
- Spot.io
- was the founders' earlier company
- NetApp
- bought Spot.io for $450 million in 2020
How the source tells it
The article is upbeat and investor-focused, using rapid valuation gains and named backers to present momentum as the main story.
- hype a chain of valuation jumps and investor additions is used to imply accelerating demand