Atlanta unicorn OneTrust raised $300 million in a Series C round, which values the data privacy and security company at $5.1 billion, according to a Monday announcement.
OneTrust, a global privacy and security platform founded in 2016 and led by CEO Kabir Barday, now has $710 million in investments, which it has raised in the past year and a half.
The Series C round was led by TCV, a West Coast-based growth equity firm that helps companies transition into going public. Its profile includes Airbnb, which recently made its public debut, Netflix and Spotify. TCV joins existing investors Insight Partners and Coatue.
OneTrust co-chairman Alan Dabbiere said the company will most likely stay independent and go public, though “nothing is set in stone.”
Inc. Magazine named OneTrust the No. 1 fastest-growing private company in America, and Atlanta Business Chronicle named it the No. 1 fastest-growing company in 2019 and fastest-growing technology company in 2020.
OneTrust’s growth indicates a growing market for privacy and security tools that allow companies to use customer data while balancing customer trust and government regulations, Dabbiere said.
“This is a real category-defining moment in trusted ethics,” Dabbiere said. “Nowadays, consumers really care about every aspect of a company, way beyond just the product. We're a very integral component to building trust that companies have with their customers.”
Barday told the Chronicle that OneTrust is built to be flexible to changes in global privacy and security laws, which regulate the way a company can use customer data. Employees update OneTrust software every three weeks to keep up with changing trends.
Dabbiere said OneTrust hasn’t needed to use all its funding from previous rounds, but the new round will help OneTrust attract new talent and make future acquisitions. In April, OneTrust laid off about 10-15% of its global workforce because of strain from the pandemic.
“We felt like we really wanted to reset the valuation of the company,” Dabbiere said. “The only way to do that is with a credible investor.”
The company currently has 1,500 employees, Dabbiere said, with about half of those based in Atlanta. Dabbiere did not disclose the number of employees the company plans to hire. The OneTrust career page has 35 open positions across departments in Atlanta.
Dabbiere said the $300 million will give OneTrust more flexibility in deciding on strategic acquisitions. OneTrust has acquired four other small technology companies, none of which were based in Atlanta. In June, OneTrust acquired Seattle-based Integris Software to use the startup’s artificial intelligence technology to enhance its DataDiscovery product.
About 7,500 companies use OneTrust, including more than half of the Fortune 500, according to the funding announcement. It has 10 offices around the world and co-headquarters in London.
An experienced management team and a culture of attracting talent has contributed most to the company’s growth, Dabbiere said. Much of the team worked together previously at supply-chain execution software company Manhattan Associates (NYSE: MANH), which went public in 1998, and mobile management and security company AirWatch, which was acquired by VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) in 2014.
“We've got a culture where we pull in enough people that we've worked with before and can add a lot of additional people into it, who fall into our cultural rhythm very quickly,” Dabbiere said. “It allows us to grow faster than the typical company that's really starting from scratch.”
The talent, cost of living and airport in Atlanta have also contributed to OneTrust’s growth, according to Barday.
Though OneTrust has no Atlanta-based investors, Dabbiere said its OneTrust’s success will attract capital into the city.
“This is a really great opportunity for Atlanta to have another world-class scale software company headquartered in the city,” Dabbiere said.
