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Meet the 19 enterprise technology startups that raised money during the coronavirus crisis

Eugenio Pace

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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