AlienVault Lands $52 Million In Series E Funding To Drive Accelerated Growth

AlienVault has landed $52 million in late-stage funding, a move that CEO Barmak Meftah said would allow the San Mateo, Calif.-based threat-detection and intelligence company to accelerate its growth and possibly make some key acquisitions.

AlienVault offers a UTM platform called Unified Security Management, as well as a large crowd-sourced threat-intelligence network called Open Threat Exchange. The two solutions are geared especially toward midmarket and smaller enterprise companies that need significant, effective security infrastructure in place, but might not have as mature of a security footprint due to their size and budget.

The latest round of funding was led by new investor Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), with participation from existing investors Trident Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and GGV Capital. It brings the company's total funding raised to $116 million, and adds Steve Harrick, general partner at IVP, to the AlienVault board of directors.

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"The funds, experience and profiles fit the late stage of growth that we're in now. We're pretty excited to accelerate growth above and beyond what we've been at," Meftah said in an interview with CRN, citing 65 percent year-over-year bookings growth for the company, and 75 percent new customer growth. "Our hope is with this extra funding, we can push the gas [pedal] on innovation and growth."

AlienVault wasn't necessarily out looking for new funding and this round was primarily opportunistic, Meftah said, driven by a desire to push the company to the next level and form connections with industry investors, such as Harrick, that could help get it there.

That growth will be driven by investments in three key areas, Meftah said. The first is fueling sales and marketing efforts to go after the "high velocity" of demand the company sees in its target market.

Second, Meftah said the company will invest in fueling product innovation, particularly its threat-intelligence and security solutions, around Amazon Web Services.

Meftah said AlienVault also is looking to put the money toward making acquisitions, mainly around security controls and core capabilities that complement the company's Unified Security Management platform.

Finally, Meftah said AlienVault will be investing in recruitment and support for its channel partners, funneling investments into its two-tier distribution model and managed security service providers.

"We're putting a lot of investment behind our channels and our channels are very important to us," Meftah said.

Chris Dewey, senior vice president at Herndon, Va.-based DLT Solutions, an AlienVault partner, said the funding round reinforces the health of the company and the investment DLT has made in selling its products.

Dewey said he would like to see the channel investments targeted toward a more "defined" and "robust" partner program.

"It is good to know that the health of AlienVault is there, and people are willing to invest and are committed to it. That's peace of mind," Dewey said. "It's nothing but good news."

PUBLISHED AUG. 19, 2015