It’s not too often you hear from a startup that openly brags about the total money it has in the bank, but for BitSight’s new funding announcement, that’s exactly what the “security ratings” company is doing with its new $60 million cash balance.
BitSight, which is based in Cambridge, announced on Thursday it has raised a $40 million Series C round led by GGV Capital, with participation from previous investors, including Flybridge Capital Partners, Menlo Ventures, Singtel Innov8 and Comcast Ventures. This brings BitSight to $95 million in total funding, and, as CEO Shaun McConnon boasts in a press release, “$60 million in the bank.”
The company has come a long way since Stephen Boyer and Nagarjuna Venna invented the “security ratings” category in 2013 with BitSight’s founding. Just over the last year, the company has quadrupled its number of enterprise customers to over 450, with sales doubling and headcount growing 58 percent to 185 employees. Sixth of its customers are Fortune 500 companies, including Lowe’s and Hess. Other customers include MIT, PWC, Ferrari and Wynn Resorts.
The annual value of contracts can range from $2,500 to over a million dollars. The price range is based in part on how many vendors a company may want to monitor the security ratings of. If anything, BitSight’s growth is an indication of the growing need for companies to be aware of the security flaws found in their vendors.
”It’s a good and important war chest for us to be able to expand.”
Tom Turner, BitSight’s president, told BostInno that BitSight wasn’t orignally looking to raise more money, the company was given an “attractive offer.”
“It’s a good and important war chest for us to be able to expand, but it also shows we’re a cash efficient company,” Turner said.
More specifically, Turner said BitSight plans to hire 100 more people, with a significant portion of them in its Cambridge and North Carolina offices. It also plans to accelerate product development, as well as expand and make partnerships in new geographic markets. The third thing it plans to do is strategic acquisitions, which is to be expected with a wallet that big.
“This round of funding enables us to contemplate acquire other companies, either for their data or for their skills and capabilities,” Turner said.
