As workforces become increasingly mobile with laptops, smartphones and other handheld devices, the potential for vulnerability increases massively. The sophistication of cyber threats and targeted attacks is constantly evolving. SentinelOne is a cyber security player that has concentrated on this new, multiple-vector, attack method, among others.
Today it announced a $70 million “C” funding round taking its total cash raised to more than $110 million. New investor – and current SentinelOne customer – Redpoint Ventures led the round along with new investment from Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary’s firm, Sound Ventures. Existing investors include Third Point Ventures, Data Collective, Granite Hill Capital Partners, Westly Group, and SineWave Ventures.
The company plans to use this new infusion of capital to aggressively expand its sales and marketing efforts.
It certainly has a big market to play in. Gartner and IDC estimate the global endpoint protection market to hit close to $10 billion (USD) by 2019 as organizations across the globe seek to displace old antivirus technology.
Founded by Israeli entrepreneurs in 2013 and based in Silicon Valley, SentinelOne concentrates on this endpoint protection powered by machine learning and behavioural analysis. It’s thus going after traditional antivirus solutions from the usual crop of global vendors like IBM, Microsoft etc etc.
The co-founders are Tomer Weingarten (CEO), Almog Cohen (CTO) and Ehud Shamir (CSO). Weingarten says “The time is now to migrate away from these ineffective technologies that remain focused on only a subset of threats and replace with a next-generation endpoint protection platform.”
Time Inc. is a customer, and SentinelOne also recently inked a strategic North American distribution deal with Avnet Inc., one of the world’s largest IT technology distributors.