Irvine-based security software maker CrowdStrike Inc. aims to embark on an international expansion plan after securing one of the biggest venture capital rounds in Orange County history last week.
The company, cofounded by former executives at McAfee Inc. and Networks in Motion Inc., will use some of the $100 million Series C funding round led by Google Capital to hire about 90 staffers this year. The goal is to bolster sales and marketing, as well as the company’s growing base of engineering teams across the U.S.
“You have to able to scale the company as fast as you scale the product,” said cofounder George Kurtz, who’s working on his second successful venture in the booming security segment. “We’re seeing the demand and we want to meet the demand with local expertise.”
Initial plans also call for expanding operations in the U.K., Asia and Australia.
The company employs about 210 people in offices in California, Washington and Minnesota. Its OC and Los Angeles offices account for about 60 employees.
CrowdStrike, which was established in 2011, has seen revenue zoom past $50 million with a roster of hundreds of government agencies and Fortune 500 customers that pay a monthly subscription for software services delivered through the cloud. The software is designed to detect, prevent, and respond to sophisticated security threats and attacks, as well as provide monitoring, cyber intelligence services, and Big Data analytics.
CrowdStrike’s biggest customers, which often pay more than $1 million a year for these services, include three of the top 10 largest global companies by revenue, according to the company, along with several leaders in the credit card payment processing, banking, oil and gas, and technology sectors.
“It’s been rapid growth in terms of the customer base,” according to Kurtz, who expects to double revenue again this year.
Breaches
Demand has been fueled by several global data breaches that have affected large corporations such as eBay, Target and Sony.
The high-profile incidents have moved discussions on cybersecurity from IT departments to the board room, according to Kurtz.
“Boards are asking tough questions and demanding CEOs and CIOs take action,” he said. “That’s been a nice driver for our business.”
CrowdStrike is among a handful of companies in the world accredited by the National Security Agency to respond to and remediate cybersecurity incidents.
Its competitors include Tanium, FireEye, Cisco and Bit9. Kurtz and fellow cofounders Dmitri Alperovitch and Gregg Marstron know the terrain from their experiences in building up companies in the security segment.
Kurtz launched Mission Viejo-based Foundstone Inc. in 1999, expanding its customer base to more 400 government agencies and a roster of large companies that included AT&T, McKesson and Motorola. The software maker, which specialized in detecting and managing software vulnerabilities, was sold five years later to McAfee Inc. in Santa Clara for $86 million in cash.
Kurtz spent seven years with McAfee, holding several executive roles, including worldwide chief technology officer, general manager and senior vice president of enterprise.
McAfee was acquired in 2010 for $7.7 billion by Santa Clara-based Intel Corp., the world’s largest chipmaker.
Alperovitch, who serves as CrowdStrike’s chief technology officer, was vice president of threat research at McAfee, where he led the company’s global Internet threat intelligence analysis and investigations.
CrowdStrike’s CFO, Marstron, held the same title at Foundstone, as well as at Networks In Motion, an Aliso Viejo-based provider of wireless navigation services for GPS-enabled mobile phones that was sold for $170 million in 2009 to TeleCommunication Systems Inc. in Annapolis, Md.
CrowdStrike has raised $156 million to date, putting it on the leaderboard in OC in venture funding.
Other Backers
Other backers in the recent round include CrowdStrike customer Rackspace Hosting Inc., a cloud service provider in San Antonio. Also in the mix are existing investors Accell Partners in Palo Alto, an early Facebook backer, and New York-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus, which manages $35 billion in assets.
Having Google on the roster of backers, meanwhile, brings awareness, influence and credibility that’s largely unmatched in the tech world and business in general.
“It goes beyond having a financial backer,” Kurtz said. “It’s validation. And they’re very selective of who they invest in.”
