Skybox Security, a global leader in security
analytics, announced today the company has received a $96 million
investment from Providence Strategic Growth (PSG), the growth equity
affiliate of Providence Equity Partners, a global private equity firm
with $45 billion in assets under management. Skybox is headquartered in
Silicon Valley and develops powerful software solutions that extract
insight from cybersecurity data to give unprecedented visibility of an
enterprise's attack surface, the ways in which its IT systems are
vulnerable to threats.
Despite billions of
dollars spent annually on cybersecurity tools and services, the time
required to resolve a cyberattack continues to increase. This is
compounded by the increasing complexity of networks with thousands of
potentially exploitable attack vectors, leaving security professionals
struggling to discover areas of highest risk and prioritize mitigation
and remediation actions. CISOs are also searching for ways to properly
evaluate strategic options and convey the potential business impact of
emerging threats to senior executives and the board.
The
Skybox Security Suite solves these problems by integrating with more
than 90 networking and security tools in use by enterprises today. The
Suite utilizes advanced analytics, such as modelling and simulation, to
extract relevant and actionable intelligence from the silos of data
created by those tools, giving security leaders the most comprehensive
view of their attack surface and the insight needed to quickly make
informed decisions about where to direct security resources.
"Skybox
is on the leading edge of a security segment that's highly relevant
right now, given the high-profile network security breaches that have
occurred at numerous large enterprises," said Thomas M. Reardon,
managing director of PSG.
According to recent
analysis, IDC estimates that security and vulnerability management
market alone will reach $6.5 billion in 2018 and continue to grow at a
rate exceeding 10 percent.
"Skybox Security
innovations in network visualization and intelligence are reshaping how
large enterprises manage their security programs," continued Reardon.
"The company is also showing very strong business performance, with
impressive top-line growth, profitability and incredibly high customer
acquisition and retention rates."
In four years,
Skybox has grown its acquisition rate of new customers by 220 percent
and revenue by 221 percent. In 2015, the company increased
year-over-year sales by 55 percent, fueled by a 59 percent increase in
deals valued more than $100,000 and a 165 percent increase in deals
valued more than $500,000.
Skybox customers are
Global 2000 companies and government agencies, in more than 50 countries
and nearly every industry. The company's products are used by six of
the top 10 global banks, 10 global telecommunications firms, five of the
world's largest consumer goods manufacturers and 10 of the largest
energy providers globally.
With the investment, Mark Hastings and Thomas Reardon, managing directors with PSG, will join the Skybox board of directors.
"This
deal is a great validation of our strategic vision for the company, the
success of our technology in the market and our ability to execute,"
said Gidi Cohen, founder and CEO of Skybox Security. "We've been on an
incredible upward trajectory, and the investment will accelerate that
growth. I've no doubt, with the innovations we're bringing to market
this year and next, Skybox will become the undisputed leader in security
analytics."
To learn more about Skybox Security and its plans for the future, listen to Gidi Cohen's podcast on The Skybox View.