Bellevue-based cybersecurity company Oleria will ramp up hiring after raising a $33 million Series A round.
Co-founder and CEO Jim Alkove said the company, which announced the round Thursday, has roughly 25 employees and plans to hit over 60 by the end of the year. Oleria is hiring in research and development, as well as go-to-market roles, he added.
"We began piloting the product with customers in the fall, in the beginning of September. We're now live with a number of customers," Alkove said. "We're now in the process of heading into a broader general availability in the coming months."
He said Oleria has a new 12,000-square-foot space at the Plaza Center in Bellevue, which it picked up in July through a sublease from an unnamed company. All but a handful of Oleria's employees work out of the Bellevue office, where Alkove said they come in at least three days per week.
Oleria chose Bellevue, he said, because much of the team lives on the Eastside, making the space more centrally located for the team. He added that downtown Bellevue has strong dining, commuting and parking options. Oleria is evaluating its office needs and whether it needs more space as it grows its headcount.
Oleria, founded in 2022, makes security clearances within organizations more dynamic, as most employees are allowed access to data based on their job title or team. Its software-as-a-service product, however, allows data access to fluctuate based on who needs what access and for how long, as those needs are constantly changing.
Alkove said companies face security risks when employees have more access than they need for extended periods of time.
Oleria launched out of stealth in March with an $8 million seed round, at which time Oleria had fewer than 10 employees. The company first disclosed its latest funding in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in December.
Oleria has open roles listed on its website in engineering, product marketing and sales. Alkove said the company is opening an office Bangalore, India, in the first quarter.
Before launching Oleria, Alkove spent over five years as chief trust officer at Salesforce. He spent over 16 years at Microsoft earlier in his career. Oleria co-founder and Chief Product Officer Jagadeesh Kunda was previously the chief product officer at JumpCloud, a directory platform headquartered in the Denver area.
Evolution Equity Partners led the Series A round, while Salesforce Ventures, Tapestry VC and Zscaler participated.
Looking ahead, Alkove said Oleria is excited to gain more customers.
"Having more customers will give us more feedback," Alkove said. "Especially for an early-stage company, that customer feedback is an essential part of how we make sure we cross the product-market fit threshold."
