Cybersecurity startup Exabeam, which last week announced the opening of a new East Coast office in Atlanta, has today closed a $75 million funding round led by Sapphire Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The Atlanta office will initially hold about 15 current Exabeam employees, with plans to more than double that over the next few years.
Company leaders cited Atlanta’s diverse workforce, top schools, and affordability as primary reasons for the new location.
“By expanding into Atlanta, we are not only setting up a hub closer to our East Coast and European customers but are gaining access to a diverse, highly-qualified pool of candidates,” said CEO Nir Polak in a statement. “We plan to immediately begin recruitment from the top technology programs and historically black colleges throughout the state.”
San Mateo, California-based Exabeam uses data science and machine learning to help companies analyze user behavior and identify any anomalies that might indicate malicious activity or hacking. The six-year-old company was ranked number one in the security category on the Inc. 5000 and eighth on the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Companies to Watch in 2018.
Exabeam says its focus is replacing legacy security providers like IBM, McAfee, RSA and more. It also released a cloud offering to protect cloud-based environments from threats earlier this year.
Polak says that, over the last two years, the company’s average deal size has grown by 100 percent.
With this new funding, Exabeam has raised a total of $190 million. The company notes that the two lead investors in this round have collectively backed nearly 40 IPOs, including Box, DocuSign, MuleSoft, and Square, indicating a possible next move for Exabeam in an IPO.
The company has several roles open in the Atlanta office now. The city’s strong fintech scene has attracted other cybersecurity companies in pursuit of talent and clients, such as South Africa’s Entersekt and Israel’s IRONSCALES, making Atlanta somewhat of an emerging cyber hub.
Featured photo by Jennifer Stalcup Photography
