It's been a good week for investment in Tampa tech.
Following Monday's news of ConnectWise getting acquired for $1.2 billion, there's another soon-to-be unicorn to watch: KnowBe4.
KnowBe4, the Tampa based cybersecurity company, will receive an initial investment of $50 million from New York City-based private equity firm KKR, with plans for additional funding reportedly already in the work. The news broke Friday and puts KnowBe4 "well over" an $800 million valuation, according to the company's CEO Stu Sjouwerman.
"The investment was made, but they are able to get up to 50 million in investment — they haven't completely executed the full amount," he said, adding KnowBe4 is closing in on unicorn status. "We’re getting very very close. Unicorn is a billion (valuation) and we’re a stone's throw distance."
The investment followed a few years of KKR simply following along with what KnowBe4 was doing, which is helping companies train employees to better understand and watch out for the risks that come with cybersecurity hacks.
"...for now, we’re gonna expand like crazy."
"They reached out to us and said 'We really want to invest in you, we love this space,'" Sjouwerman said. "They've been watching us the last three to four years. They decided they wanted to jump in now before we got too expensive for them."
KKR's interest further solidifies the rapidly flourishing cybersecurity market, which Sjouwerman believes will continue to grow.
"(The investment) basically validates the market we’re in," he said. "Everyone knows you need firewall and antivirus. The bad guys hack people and not software, so you need an additional layer on top. We build a human firewall, which is trained employees as your last line of defense. Look at data breach — that's why people use our service."
Sjouwerman plans to take the new funds and further expand the company internationally, which has already reached a slew of new markets. The company has a 15-person office in the U.K., five employees in Holland, 15 in Berlin with offices in Dubai, Singapore, Melbourne and Sao Paulo slated to open this year.
But Sjouwerman plans to stay right in Tampa for years to come.
"Being in Tampa's a very strong competitive advantage," he said, adding high tech in Tampa is 'doing great.' "One example is I pay 20 bucks per square-ft for my office. In San Francisco, you pay 100."
"I'm not going anywhere," he said. "I love this. It's so much fun, we’re just going to build the company. Ultimately maybe down the line, you work on some kind of exit. But for now, we’re gonna expand like crazy."
