Silicon Valley cybersecurity startup Arctic Wolf announced Thursday that it plans to move its corporate headquarters to Minnesota as well as a $200 million Series E round of venture capital.
The funding came at a valuation of $1.3 billion for Arctic Wolf, meaning it is now one Minnesota's handful of unicorns, or startups that are valued at over $1 billion.
The round was led by Greenwich, Conn.-based Viking Global Investors, and featured participation from Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners and Arctic Wolf's existing investors. Some of the company's existing investors include New York, N.Y.-based Blue Cloud Ventures and Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stereo Capital.
"This new round of funding will allow us to rapidly scale our business so that we can keep even more organizations safe from cyberattacks," Arctic Wolf CEO Brian NeSmith said in a statement.
The company plans to add new products and expand its reach overseas, Chief Revenue Officer Nick Schneider said. Schneider is the most senior employee based in Eden Prairie; NeSmith doesn't plan to relocate here, he said.
Arctic Wolf has around 200 employees in Eden Prairie, and plans to add another 150 by the end of 2021, Schneider said. While the company's Minnesota operations were historically focused on marketing and sales, they've recently expanded to include human resources and tech talent, a trend that will continue into the future.
“More and more technology companies are putting their stake in the ground in Minnesota and we’re happy to be one of them," Schneider said.
Arctic Wolf doesn't disclose revenue, though sales are growing fast enough to make Deloitte's list of fastest-growing tech companies last year.
The funding round more than doubles Arctic Wolf's total venture capital raised. Previously it had pulled in around $148 million, according to Crunchbase, including a $60 million Series D earlier this year. The Series D helped Arctic Wolf hire around 70 people locally.
Arctic Wolf has about 550 employees worldwide, Schneider said. It still has operations in Sunnyvale, Calif. as well as security operations centers in Provo, Utah and Waterloo, Ontario.
