- Venture capital deals are slowing because of the pandemic, but enterprise IT is expected to be more insulated from that trend than other industries.
- Using data from PitchBook, Business Insider compiled a list of 19 enterprise technology startups that have raised funding during the crisis.
- Fresh funding isn't always a sign that a startup is thriving, though: Some of the startups on the list kept a flat valuation between funding rounds, or even raised a "down round," which means they raised money at a lower valuation than they previously held.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
While venture capital deals have slowed during the economic downtown, the pandemic is actually making it easier for some startups to raise money. Enterprise technology firms, like cybersecurity software startup Auth0, are finding themselves beneficiaries of the shift to remote work.
"There are some tailwinds for us because of the pandemic," said Eugenio Pace, CEO of Auth0, which raised $120 million at a nearly $2 billion valuation in July. "It's very unfortunate that it's happening, but it's happening, and one of the side effects is that all of these projects of improving the digital experience of customers have accelerated."
Investors have predicted that funding will be harder to come by for startups over the next year, but the enterprise IT industry is expected to be more insulated from that trend — particularly those startups focused on making remote work possible.
Bill Richter, CEO of hybrid cloud storage startup Qumulo, said his company's recent $125 million funding round, which doubled its valuation, is an example that there will always be capital available to startups that are solving real problems, regardless of the economic cycle.
"These global crises create a lot of change," said Richter, who's also a venture partner at Seattle's Madrona Venture Group. "And any time there's change, there ends up being a set of winners and losers through that process."
Business Insider compiled a list of 19 enterprise technology startups that have raised funding amid the pandemic using data from venture capital database PitchBook. We targeted startups that have disclosed valuations and closed a funding round since March, and defined "enterprise technology" fairly broadly as startups that sell technology to other companies. Collectively, they raised around $3.6 billion.
Funding itself isn't always a sign that a startup is thriving, though. At least one startup on this list raised at a lower valuation, while others had a flat valuation between rounds. Some did not respond to whether they raised money at a higher valuation than previous rounds, as noted below.
SEE ALSO: Meet the 54 most valuable enterprise tech startups, worth as much as $216 billion collectively
Stripe: $600 million in April
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Year founded: 2009
Valuation: $36 billion
Total raised to date: $1.89 billion as of April 2020
Latest round: Series G
Investors: Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Novator Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and GV
Employees: 2,500 as of May 2020
What it does: Stripe builds a digital payments platform used by companies including Airbnb, Amazon, and Target. Cofounder and president John Collison recently spoke to Business Insider about raising $600 million amid the pandemic, and signing new customers like Mattel and NBC.
The $600 million Stripe raised in April was an extension of the Series G round that it began in September 2019 with $250 million, bringing the total raised to $850 million. Stripe confirmed the April extension was raised at the same valuation as the September funding.
Source: PitchBook
Samsara: $400 million in May (down-round)
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Year founded: 2015
Valuation: $5.4 billion
Total raised to date: $930 million
Latest round: Series F
Investors: Warburg Pincus, Sands Capital Management, General Atlantic, General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, AllianceBernstein, Tiger Global Management, Dragoneer Investment Group, and Franklin Templeton Investments United Kingdom.
Employees: 1,350 as of July 2020
What it does: Samsara builds sensors and cloud software for so-called "Internet of Things" connected devices and applications. While the startup is still one of the most valuable in the enterprise technology market, it's faced recent challenges.
Samsara laid off 300 employees and raised $400 million at a lower valuation in May, citing the economic crisis caused by the pandemic (the company was previously valued at more than $6 billion). A spokesperson said the latest round would "ensure we can operate sustainably and reach full profitability, even under the worst case economic conditions or if a recession lasts for years."
PitchBook lists Samara's Series F as $700 million, but that's because April's funding was an extension of the round in which it initially raised $300 million back in September.
Source: PitchBook
Cohesity: $250 million in April
Headquarters: San Jose, California
Year founded: 2013
Valuation: $2.5 billion
Total raised: $661 million as of April 2020
Latest round: Series E
Investors: Oryx Ventures, Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, Sozo Ventures, Private Access Network, Baillie Gifford, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Wing Venture Capital, Greenspring Associates, Foundation Capital, DFJ Growth, Sequoia Capital, Cisco Investments
Employees: 1,300 as of May 2020
What it does: Cohesity builds a platform for storing and managing company data. The company confirmed the most recent round was raised at a higher valuation than its previous round.
Source: PitchBook
Confluent: $250 million in April
Headquarters: Mountain View, California
Year founded: 2014
Valuation: $4.5 billion
Total raised: $456 million
Latest round: Series E
Investors: Franklin Templeton Investments, Altimeter Capital Management, Coatue Management, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital
Employees: 1,000
What it does: Known for what industry insiders refers to as "event streaming" software, Confluent pulls in real-time data from various silos across an organization into a central location so it can be used to inform decision-making. For example, a customer could tap its technology to monitor the success of an advertising campaign by analyzing sources like social media posts and inventory numbers. It's based upon Apache Kafka, an open-source platform that CEO Jay Kreps helped create while at LinkedIn.
Source: PitchBook
Carta: $210 million in June
Headquarters: Palo Alto, California
Year founded: 2014
Valuation: $3.28 billion
Total raised: $629 million
Latest round: Series F
Investors: Tribe Capital, Finsight Ventures, Premji Invest, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Employees: 600
What it does: Carta helps startups and their employees manage equity, but is striving to create what CEO Henry Ward calls a "stock market for private companies." The platform is used by over 11,000 companies and 143 venture capital firms, according to Carta. It laid off 161 people in April.
The company has recently faced scrutiny after a lawsuit accused it of underpaying and retaliating against its sole female executive.
Source: PitchBook
QuantumScape: $200 million in June
Headquarters: San Jose, California
Year founded: 2010
Valuation: $2.3 billion
Total raised to date: $196.27 million as of June 2020
Latest round: Series F
Investors: Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Volkswagen, Capricorn Investment Group
Employees: 34 as of October 2019
What it does: QuantumScape develops non-lithium battery technology that increases longevity and shortens charging times for electric cars. The German carmaker Volkswagen recently increased its stake in the company by $200 million.
The company did not respond to a request about when it started the round or whether it was raised at a higher valuation than its previous round.
Source: PitchBook
Asapp: $185 million in May
Headquarters: New York, New York
Year founded: 2014
Valuation: $835 million
Total raised: $260 million
Latest round: Series B
Investors: Joe Tucci, Telstra Ventures, Vast Ventures, March Capital Partners, HOF Capital, John Chambers, Euclidean Capital, Emergence Capital Partners, John Doerr
Employees: 337
What it does: ASAPP helps corporations manage their call centers by providing agents with automated responses, a full history of every customer interaction with the company, regardless of medium, and other tools.
Source: PitchBook
Postman: $150 million in June
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Year founded: 2014
Valuation: $2 billion
Total raised: $208 million as of June 2020
Latest round: Series E
Investors: Franklin Templeton Investments, Altimeter Capital Management, Coatue Management, Index Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.
Employees: 250 as of June 2020
What it does: Postman builds a collaboration platform offering application programming interfaces (APIs). Microsoft, Twitter, and Cisco all use the platform.
The round began in the second quarter of this year, when Postman CEO and cofounder Abhinav Asthana was approached by investors, according to the company, and the round stepped up its valuation.
Source: PitchBook
Procore: $150 million in April
Headquarters: Carpinteria, California
Year founded: 2003
Valuation: $4.85 billion
Total raised: $640 million as of April 2020
Latest round: Series I
Investors: D1 Capital Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners
Employees: 1,911 as of December 2019
What it does: Procore builds construction management software intended to simplify everyday tasks for construction workers, like creating job site schedules. Procore had plans to go public, according to Bloomberg, but has postponed those plans and instead completed a $150 million funding round in April.
A spokesperson said Procore raised the funding at the same valuation as its last funding round in late 2019.
Source: PitchBook
Brex: $150 million in May
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Year founded: 2017
Valuation: $2.75 billion
Total raised: $465 million
Latest round: Series C
Investors: Lone Pine Capital, Next Play Ventures, DST Global
Employees: Around 400
What it does: Brex offers a credit card tailored for startups that may face difficulty getting credit from traditional banks. And unlike most legacy financial institutions that lend based on credit history, the company bases its decision on factors like who is investing in the firm and prior spending habits.
Source: PitchBook
Tanium: $150 million in June
Headquarters: Emeryville, California
Year founded: 2007
Valuation: $9 billion
Total raised: $837.08 million as of June 2020
Latest round: Series H
Investors: Salesforce Ventures
Employees: 1,500 as of April 2020
What it does: Tanium is a cybersecurity firm that works to make companies more secure by protecting so-called "endpoints," like desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. Salesforce signed a deal with Tanium in February to keep company information secure during the shift to remote work, which raised Tanium's valuation to $9 billion.
A spokesperson said there was no start date to the funding round because the partnership with Salesforce evolved over time.
Source: PitchBook
Qumulo: $125 million in July
Headquarters: Seattle, Washington
Year founded: 2012
Valuation: $1.2 billion
Total raised: $363.01 million as of July 2020
Latest round: Series E
Investors: Kleiner Perkins, BlackRock Private Equity Partners, Madrona Venture Group, Amity Ventures, and Highland Capital Partners.
Employees: 315 as of July 2020
What it does: Qumulo is a hybrid cloud storage startup that helps customers manage data inside their own data centers and the cloud. Qumulo more than doubled its valuation in a recent funding round and told Business Insider it shows how investors are betting big on digital transformation amid the pandemic.
The round started in April and closed in July.
Source: PitchBook
Podium: $125 million in April
Headquarters: Lehi, Utah
Year founded: 2014
Valuation: $1.45 billion
Total raised: $221.89 million as of April 2020
Latest round: Series C
Investors: Album VC, Summit Partners, Recruit Strategic Partners, Sapphire Ventures, Y Combinator, Alkeon Capital Management, Accel, GV, and IVP.
Employees: 750 employees as of June 2020
What it does: Podium builds a platform to makes it easier for a local business to communicate with customers, via email or text, as Business Insider's Ben Pimentel writes. It can help companies ask customers to post a review on most of the popular review sites, such as Google.
Source: PitchBook and CB Insights
States Title: $123 million in May
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Year founded: 2016
Valuation: $623 million
Total raised to date: $158.22 million as of May 2020
Latest round: Series C
Investors: Horizons Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Hudson Structured Capital Management, Fifth Wall, Greenspring Associates, Assurant Growth Investing, Scor, Foundation Capital, Lennar, Eminence Capital
Employees: 1,000 as of May 2020
What it does: States Title is an insur-tech platform to make the process of buying and selling homes more efficient through machine learning. In a press release, CEO Max Simkoff said, "We are witnessing an unprecedented shift in the structural foundation of the real estate industry, and this new funding will allow States Title to provide enhanced support for lenders, real estate agents, and homeowners."
The company did not respond to a request about when it started the round or whether it was raised at a higher valuation than its previous round.
Source: PitchBook
NS8: $123 million in June
Headquarters: Las Vegas, Nevada
Year founded: 2016
Valuation: $436.38 million
Total raised to date: $158.22 million as of May 2020
Latest round: Series A
Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners, AXA Venture Partners
Employees: 225 as of July 2020
What it does: NS8 is a fraud prevention platform that works with ecommerce businesses. In a press release about the new round of funding, NS8 said its year-over-year growth was 200%. NS8 declined to disclose information about its valuation prior to this Series A round.
Source: PitchBook
Auth0: $120 million in July
Headquarters: Bellevue, Washington
Year founded: 2013
Valuation: $1.92 billion
Total raised: $333.47 million as of July 2020
Latest round: Series F
Investors: Telstra Ventures, Trinity Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Meritech Capital Partners, K9 Ventures, DTCP, and World Innovation Lab
Employees: 700 as of July 2020
What it does: Auth0 is a cybersecurity software startup that manages user authentication and secures the login pages for large consumer and enterprise businesses. The company funding round started and closed within the month of June, a spokesperson said.
Source: PitchBook
VAST Data: $100 million in April
Headquarters: New York, New York
Year founded: 2016
Valuation: $1.2 billion
Total raised: $180 million as of April 2020
Latest round: Series C
Investors: Greenfield Partners (Israel), Next47, Goldman Sachs Private Ventures, 83North, Dell Technologies Capital, Commonfund, Mellanox Capital, and Norwest Venture Partners.
Employees: 145 as of April 2020
What it does: VAST Data builds a storage solution intended to make it easier for companies to quickly and continuously analyze large sets of information.
A company spokesperson said the funding round essentially began in February after it received "unsolicited interest" from investors. The funding round nearly tripled VAST Data's valuation, the spokesperson said.
Source: PitchBook
Fivetran: $100 million in June
Headquarters: Oakland, California
Year founded: 2012
Valuation: $1.2 billion
Total raised: $163.12 million as of June 2020
Latest round: Series C
Investors: Matrix Partners, CEAS Investments, General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz
Employees: 350 as of June 2020
What it does: FiveTran builds a platform that brings together all of a company's data into a single dashboard. A company spokesperson said Fivetran started raising on May 26 and closed the round in about a week, and confirmed it was at a higher valuation than the company's previous round.
Source: PitchBook
DNAnexus: $100 million in June
Headquarters: Mountain View, California
Year founded: 2009
Valuation: $194.7 million
Total raised to date: $295.73 million as of June 2020
Latest round: Series G
Investors: Northpond Ventures, TPG Growth, Perceptive Advisors, Foresite Capital Management, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, First Round Capital, GV
Employees: 150 as of June 2020
What it does: DNAnexus is a cloud data analytics platform that works closely with pharmaceutical companies and colleges to access DNA data. The Series G marks the most money DNAnexus has received at once.
The company did not respond to a request about when it started the round or whether it was raised at a higher valuation than its previous round.
Source: PitchBook
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