Vista Equity Partners leads round as demand soars for Secure Web Gateway (SWG) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov 13 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Menlo Security, a leader in cloud security, today announced it has raised $100 million in Series E funding, valuing the company at $800 million. The round was led by Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”), a leading global investment firm focused on enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses, with additional participation from Neuberger Berman funds, General Catalyst, JP Morgan, and other existing investors. This new capital will further fuel market expansion and empower the company to scale go-to-market capabilities, as well as provide increased investment in engineering to accelerate product delivery and category expansion.

As businesses of all sizes embrace remote working and migrate to software as a service (SaaS), security is being completely re-architected to combat modern day threats such as phishing and ransomware. Traditional “detect and respond” approaches fail to provide the safety that users and businesses need. Menlo Security’s mission is to make internet use safe, seamless, and effective. The Menlo Security Cloud SWG is an extensible security platform – built on a unique isolation core – that delivers on the promise of cloud security by:

·  Providing the most effective zero trust approach to preventing malicious attacks;
·  Offering a seamless experience for end users that allows for safe, uninterrupted work while accessing the internet, SaaS or private applications; and
·  Removing the significant operational burden for security operations teams.

“In today’s dynamic threat landscape with the rapid growth in connected devices, simultaneous de-centralized network structures, and the widespread embrace of SaaS and cloud-based applications, providing a safe internet experience is more important and challenging than ever before,” said Ryan Atlas, Managing Director, Vista Equity Partners. “Menlo Security has taken a unique approach with Isolation technology at its core that is able to completely neutralize all critical attack vectors of Web and email. We are thrilled to partner with Amir and the team to build on Menlo Security’s tremendous momentum and help catapult the company into their next phase of growth.”

“The internet is where work happens – in browsers, email, shared files and SaaS applications – making these critical business workflows a massive target for malicious attacks,” said Amir Ben Efraim, CEO of Menlo Security. “We are on a mission to empower organizations with the essential cloud security platform they need to outsmart and eliminate threats to protect productivity. This new round of financing and partnership with the Vista team provides us with the means to accelerate our execution capabilities across all dimensions of the business and meet the needs of our global customers as they transition to Zero trust and SASE based deployment models.”

2020 Momentum and Recent Customer Wins

“We are in an unprecedented period of uncertainty and risk. Protecting companies against the onslaught of ransomware, phishing and other cyber-threats has never been more important,” said Rick Smith, Head of Private Investments at JPMorgan. “Menlo Security’s Isolation-powered cloud security platform helps to solve this problem for the world’s top financial institutions, governments and leading enterprises, and provides a unique value proposition in combating top cyber threat vectors.”

Despite market uncertainty in the wake of COVID-19, Menlo Security has maintained impressive momentum, with 155% ARR growth and over 100% increase in average deal size year to date compared to the same period last year. Menlo Security’s customers include seven of the ten largest banks, four of the five largest credit-card issuers and some of the largest energy and critical infrastructure companies in the world. Several notable recent milestones include:

·  An award with partner By Light Professional IT Services LLC for a $198.9M, 5-year production Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) for the Cloud-Based Internet Isolation (CBII) Program. According to Bob Donahue, By Light CEO, “This win culminates more than 18 months of working closely with Menlo Security, DISA, and its Mission Partners to shape the commercial application of Menlo’s Global Cloud Secure Web Gateway (SWG) to improve DoD’s information security posture for those entities conducting business across the Internet.”
·  A new SWG and SASE partnership with VMware. The new VMware Cloud Web Security service will integrate Menlo Security’s best-in-class SWG, cloud access service broker (CASB), data loss prevention, sandbox, and remote browser isolation capabilities natively into the VMware SASE solution. “VMware Cloud Web Security will be sold and supported by VMware, with a single management interface and integrated back end operations, offering customers of all sizes an easy to deploy and ready to use solution,” the company said. 

About Menlo Security

Menlo Security protects organizations from cyberattacks by eliminating the threat of malware from the web, documents, and email. Menlo Security's cloud-based isolation platform scales to provide comprehensive protection across enterprises of any size, without requiring endpoint software or impacting the end user-experience. Menlo Security is trusted by major global businesses, including Fortune 500 companies and financial services institutions, and backed by Vista Equity Partners, Neuberger Berman, General Catalyst, Sutter Hill Ventures, Engineering Capital, Osage University Partners, American Express Ventures, Ericsson Ventures, HSBC, and JP Morgan Chase. Menlo Security is headquartered in Mountain View, California. For more information, please visit www.menlosecurity.com.

About Vista Equity Partners

Vista is a leading global investment firm with more than $58 billion in cumulative capital commitments. The firm exclusively invests in enterprise software, data and technology-enabled organizations across private equity, credit, public equity and permanent capital strategies, bringing an approach that prioritizes creating enduring market value for the benefit of its global ecosystem of investors, companies, customers and employees. Vista’s investments are anchored by a sizable long-term capital base, experience in structuring technology-oriented transactions and proven, flexible management techniques that drive sustainable growth. Vista believes the transformative power of technology is the key to an even better future – a healthier planet, a smarter economy, a diverse and inclusive community and a broader path to prosperity. Further information is available at vistaequitypartners.com. Follow Vista on LinkedIn @Vista Equity Partners and on Twitter, @Vista_Equity.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201112005140/en/ 

Contact

Mia Wilcox
Merritt Group for Menlo Security
wilcox@merrittgrp.com
(610) 564-6773

Dafna Tapiero
Laurel Strategies for Vista Equity Partners
vista@laurelstrategies.com 

Source : Menlo Security

--BERNAMA