Clearwater-Based Cybersecurity Company Is Hitting $100 Million In Recurring Revenue And Is Valued At $1 Billion
- Clearwater, Florida-based leading cybersecurity company KnowBe4 is now hitting $100 million in recurring revenue and is now valued at $1 billion
- Recently, KnowBe4 raised $300 million in funding led by KKR.
KnowBe4 is a Clearwater, Florida-based leading cybersecurity company that has created the largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform. Recently, KnowBe4 raised a $300 million investment led by KKR with significant participation from existing investors Elephant and TenEleven Ventures. This round of funding values the company at $1 billion and it will be used for global growth initiatives and platform development.
As phishing has been a long-existing attack method, it still causes major headaches for IT departments at companies around the world.
More than 90% of advanced and targeted attacks involved phishing and preyed upon the human element inside an organization, according to the 2018 VDBI.
KnowBe4’s platform has been proven to reduce the risk and support investments in traditional IT security by creating an educated human firewall. And KnowBe4’s “Chief Hacking Officer” Kevin Mitnick is an internationally recognized computer security expert who helped design the company’s training based on well-documented social engineering tactics.
“We built KnowBe4 to serve an important market need and it’s very, very gratifying to have reached this milestone as evidence that we’re doing what we set out to do,” said KnowBe4 CEO Stu Sjouwerman in a statement. “Threats like phishing, ransomware and other forms of social engineering continue to plague organizations of all sizes, meaning the market for our security awareness training is growing at a rapid pace. The relationship we started with KKR earlier this year has been fruitful for both of us. This new round enables KnowBe4 to continue to focus on helping our clients build a human shield against cyber threats, while also accelerating KnowBe4’s rollout in new markets to help more companies around the globe.”
KnowBe4 also recently announced a number of other milestones. This includes hitting more than $100 million of recurring revenue, achieving near triple-digit growth. And the company now has a customer base of more than 25,000 organizations across all industries, including companies in highly regulated fields like finance, healthcare, energy, government, and insurance.
“2019 is on track to be another record year for KnowBe4, which is experiencing accelerating growth at significant scale. We see KnowBe4 as a category-defining asset driving a significant impact within a critical vertical of cyber security and are very excited to extend our support in this new round of financing,” added KKR director Stephen Shanley.
KKR is making this investment through its Next Generation Technology Fund. This Fund invests in software, security, digital media, and information services.
“Cyber threats are not going to be solved with technology alone; the human side of the equation matters and KnowBe4 is making important contributions in this area. We’re very excited to watch the company continue to scale globally and meet market demand for security awareness training and testing that actually works,” explained KKR Principal Patrick Devine.
KnowBe4 has been continuously investing in its technology and made a number of strategic acquisitions. The acquisitions include Brazil-based El Pescador and Norway-based CLTRe.
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