Upwind secures $400 million Series C at $3.8 billion valuation
San Francisco cloud-security startup Upwind has raised a $400 million Series C at a $3.8 billion valuation. Bessemer Venture Partners led the financing, while existing investors Greylock Partners and Craft Ventures also participated. The round arrives nine months after Upwind raised $250 million at a $1.5 billion valuation.
The financing was reportedly close to falling apart after Datadog explored buying Upwind. Datadog, the public company known for software observability tools, did not offer more than the $3.8 billion valuation established by venture investors. Upwind consequently chose to remain independent.
Rapid valuation growth follows revenue expansion
Founded four years ago, Upwind has been growing amid increased attention to AI-driven cybersecurity threats. A person familiar with its finances said the company has been adding $20 million to $30 million in annualized recurring revenue each quarter and is projected to finish the year at approximately $90 million in ARR.
On that forecast, the $3.8 billion valuation represents more than 40 times projected ARR, a common software-company pricing measure. The multiple is lower than the 80 times ARR valuation reported earlier this year for Cyera, another fast-growing cybersecurity startup.
Upwind was founded by Amiram Shachar, whose prior cloud-spend-management company Spot.io was acquired by NetApp for $450 million. The company continues to attract acquisition interest, although it elected not to accept Datadog's approach.
Runtime security is central to Upwind's proposition
Upwind describes its product category as runtime security. Its platform is designed to alert customers to attacks and vulnerabilities in active services and to remediate them in real time. That emphasis distinguishes the offering from Datadog's core observability tools, which monitor how software operates.
The transaction also highlights investor interest in cybersecurity software tied to AI adoption. Theory Ventures general partner Tomasz Tunguz has described cybersecurity as a potential third major wave of AI software spending, following AI coding tools and customer-support products.
What businesses should take from the funding
For enterprises evaluating cloud-security platforms, Upwind's new capital and revenue trajectory are relevant signals of vendor scale, while its focus on runtime protection should be assessed against the security requirements of active cloud services. Procurement teams can compare that capability with observability tooling and existing controls before making a platform commitment.