Vanta Secures $150 Million Funding, Valuation Soars to $2.45 Billion

Sequoia Capital-backed Vanta raises funding at $2.45 billion valuation

Internet 1 min read Sequoia Capital-backed Vanta raises funding at $2.45 billion valuation The venture capital businesses of banking giants Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase also participated in the round that saw all previous investors returning, bringing the lifetime raise of the company to $353 million since 2021. Online security and compliance management platform Vanta said on Wednesday it had raised $150 million in a fresh funding round led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, giving it a valuation of $2.45 billion. Companies pursuing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption are attracting the attention of U.S. venture capital firms after a near two-year lull driven by high interest rates and a sluggish exit market for startup investors. Vanta says it wants to double down on its AI innovation, eliminate legacy tools in compliance and deepen its global presence by venturing into the UK and Australia. The venture capital businesses of banking giants Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase also participated in the round that saw all previous investors returning, bringing the lifetime raise of the company to $353 million since 2021. San Francisco-based Vanta raised $50 million in 2021 in a round led by Sequoia Capital, which also participated in its fundraise the year after. The company achieved a valuation of $1.6 billion when it raised $110 million in 2022. The company has more than 8,000 customers, including Microsoft-owned developer platform GitHub, hiring platform SmartRecruiters and database company ZoomInfo. Vanta, founded in 2018 by CEO Christina Cacioppo, helps its clients with security monitoring and achieving compliance certifications at a faster pace through process automation. "We're investing in Vanta because of their demonstrated platform approach, starting with automated compliance and rapidly adding new modules," said Goldman Sachs growth equity investor Mike Reilly. Atlassian Ventures, Craft Ventures, CrowdStrike Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Workday Ventures and Y Combinator were the other investors in the funding round.

Sequoia Capital-backed Vanta raises funding at $2.45 billion valuation

Vanta says it wants to double down on its AI innovation, eliminate legacy tools in compliance and deepen its global presence by venturing into the UK and Australia. The venture capital businesses of banking giants Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase also participated in the round that saw all previous investors returning, bringing the lifetime raise of the company to $353 million since 2021. San Francisco-based Vanta raised $50 million in 2021 in a round led by Sequoia Capital, which also participated in its fundraise the year after. The company achieved a valuation of $1.6 billion when it raised $110 million in 2022. The company has more than 8,000 customers, including Microsoft-owned developer platform GitHub, hiring platform SmartRecruiters and database company ZoomInfo. Vanta, founded in 2018 by CEO Christina Cacioppo, helps its clients with security monitoring and achieving compliance certifications at a faster pace through process automation. "We're investing in Vanta because of their demonstrated platform approach, starting with automated compliance and rapidly adding new modules," said Goldman Sachs growth equity investor Mike Reilly. Atlassian Ventures, Craft Ventures, CrowdStrike Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Workday Ventures and Y Combinator were the other investors in the funding round. (Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

Sequoia Capital-backed Vanta raises funding at $2.45 billion valuation

Companies pursuing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption are attracting the attention of U.S. venture capital firms after a near two-year lull driven by high interest rates and a sluggish exit market for startup investors. Vanta says it wants to double down on its AI innovation, eliminate legacy tools in compliance and deepen its global presence by venturing into the UK and Australia.Online security and compliance management platform Vanta said on Wednesday it had raised $150 million in a fresh funding round led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, giving it a valuation of $2.45 billion. Companies pursuing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption are attracting the attention of U.S. venture capital firms after a near two-year lull driven by high interest rates and a sluggish exit market for startup investors. Vanta says it wants to double down on its AI innovation, eliminate legacy tools in compliance and deepen its global presence by venturing into the UK and Australia. The venture capital businesses of banking giants Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase also participated in the round that saw all previous investors returning, bringing the lifetime raise of the company to $353 million since 2021. San Francisco-based Vanta raised $50 million in 2021 in a round led by Sequoia Capital, which also participated in its fundraise the year after. The company achieved a valuation of $1.6 billion when it raised $110 million in 2022. The company has more than 8,000 customers, including Microsoft-owned developer platform GitHub, hiring platform SmartRecruiters and database company ZoomInfo. Vanta, founded in 2018 by CEO Christina Cacioppo, helps its clients with security monitoring and achieving compliance certifications at a faster pace through process automation. "We're investing in Vanta because of their demonstrated platform approach, starting with automated compliance and rapidly adding new modules," said Goldman Sachs growth equity investor Mike Reilly. Atlassian Ventures, Craft Ventures, CrowdStrike Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Workday Ventures and Y Combinator were the other investors in the funding round.

Compliance automation and trust management startup Vanta raises $150M - SiliconANGLE

Compliance automation and trust management startup Vanta raises $150M Cybersecurity compliance startup Vanta Inc. said today it has closed on a $150 million round of funding, cementing its status as a leader in the emerging "trust management" sector. Today's Series C round was led by Sequoia Capital and saw the involvement of new investors Goldman Sachs Ventures and J.P. Morgan, plus returning investors Atlassian Ventures, Craft Ventures, CrowdStrike Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Workday Ventures and Y Combinator. All told, the company has now raised $353 million since it was founded in 2021, and its value now stands at a cool $2.45 billion. Vanta has created a suite of tools that help companies to comply with cybersecurity standards such as the SOC 2, the General Data Protection Regulation and the ISO 27001 regulation. Many companies are required to adhere to these standards in order to show that they're processing and storing customer data in a way that's safe and secure. But it can be a nightmarish task for larger companies to ensure they're in compliance with those rules, especially when they're racing to integrate new, data-hungry artificial intelligence applications and tools into their business processes. That explains the popularity of Vanta, whose products include reporting tools that provide organizations with a unified view of their cybersecurity programs and their attack surfaces, so they can prioritize where they need to focus their efforts to ensure they remain compliant and eliminate any vulnerabilities in their computing stacks. Its suite also comes with a risk management dashboard that surfaces key metrics via heat maps and other visualizations. These help security teams to see where they face the most risks, so they can coordinate efforts to plug any gaps in their cyber defenses. In addition, Vanta offers workspaces for team leaders to assign tasks to specific individuals, plus a reporting capability for executives that provides a complete overview of their compliance status. In a recent update, Vanta debuted AI capabilities that help to relieve the burden on security teams, including AI-powered vendor security reviews, generative questionnaire responses and intelligent control mapping. Prior to today's round, Vanta had been making good progress, surpassing $100 million in annual recurring revenue for the first time in its fiscal 2024 year ending in January, doubling its customer base and growing its staff to more than 500 employees across its offices in North America, the U.K., Germany and Australia. Vanta is led by Chief Executive Christina Cacioppo (pictured), who said today the company has emerged as the leader in trust management, "enabling thousands of customers to strengthen their security practices and ultimately grow their businesses." The startup claims more than 8,000 enterprise customers, including companies such as Atlassian Corp., Quora Inc., Intercom Inc., ZoomInfo Technologies Inc., Modern Life Inc. and SmartRecruiters Inc. It provided a number of testimonials from those customers, with Modern Life saying it saves over 100 hours per year on compliance and security-related tasks through Vanta's automation, and SmartRecruiters claiming that its pre-teams save 20 hours per week through its streamlined security review processes. Looking forward, Vantas said the funds from today's round will help to accelerate its market momentum. Goldman Sachs' growth equity investor Mike Reilly said compliance has become critical for every business, especially the largest enterprises. "We're investing in Vanta because of their demonstrated platform approach, starting with automated compliance and rapidly adding new modules such as Trust Centers and Vendor Risk Management," Reilly said.

Vanta secures $150 million as AI reshapes tech compliance landscape

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Vanta, a startup using AI to automate security compliance, has secured $150 million in Series C funding, vaulting its valuation to $2.45 billion. Sequoia Capital led the round, with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan joining as investors. This significant cash injection marks a pivotal moment for the four-year-old company and signals a broader shift in how businesses approach trust and security in the digital age. Christina Cacioppo, Vanta's co-founder and CEO, envisions a fundamental change in security verification. "We're moving the market from point-in-time checks to continuous, ongoing monitoring," she explained in an interview with VentureBeat. "This approach is much more reliable and reflects the real-time nature of today's digital threats." Vanta's rapid ascent -- reaching $100 million in annual recurring revenue and serving over 8,000 customers globally -- underscores a growing demand for automated compliance solutions. As businesses increasingly rely on cloud services and face stricter regulations, manual security checks have become unsustainable. AI-powered compliance: How Vanta is changing security management Jeremy Epling, Vanta's chief product officer, highlighted the company's new AI focus. "We were first to deliver the NIST AI risk management framework," he said. "ISO 42,001 is another certification -- we're adopting these principles internally to ensure our own responsible use of customer data." This emphasis on artificial intelligence comes at a critical time. Recent advancements in large language models have raised concerns about data privacy and security. Vanta's approach aims to address these issues head-on, positioning the company at the intersection of two major tech trends: AI and cybersecurity. Vanta's growth also reflects a broader trend of declining trust in tech companies. "There's increasing scrutiny on software companies," Cacioppo said. "They'll have to do more to prove they're doing the right thing." This shift in public perception has created a ripe market for trust management solutions. Global expansion: Vanta's quest to build trust across borders The company's international expansion further illustrates the global nature of this challenge. With offices in Dublin, London, and Sydney, Vanta has seen its non-U.S. customer base nearly double in the past year. This rapid growth suggests that concerns about tech trust extend far beyond Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. Vanta's approach to compliance represents a significant departure from traditional methods. Instead of relying on manual checks and sprawling spreadsheets, the company uses AI to automate and streamline the process. Epling told VentureBeat, "We're addressing Greenfield problems in the governance, risk, and compliance space. Our AI chatbot can answer questions about a company's security posture, making complex information more accessible." This innovative use of AI in compliance could have far-reaching implications. As regulatory frameworks struggle to keep pace with technological advancements, Vanta's continuous monitoring approach might offer a more adaptive solution. Reshaping tech trust: Vanta's vision for a secure digital Future However, Vanta's rapid growth and ambitious vision also raise questions. As the company expands its reach and capabilities, it will need to navigate the complex ethical landscape of AI development while maintaining the trust of its clients. The substantial investment from major players like Sequoia, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan suggests confidence in Vanta's ability to meet these challenges. It also indicates a broader recognition of the critical role trust will play in the future of tech. Cacioppo acknowledges the weight of this responsibility: "We started with a startup secret -- the growing importance of automated compliance. Now, our customers are pushing us to expand beyond just compliance, helping companies build out their security and prove it." As Vanta charts its course forward, it stands at the forefront of a new paradigm in tech trust. By leveraging AI to make security compliance more efficient and reliable, the company is not just streamlining a business process -- it's potentially reshaping how we think about trust in the digital age. In a world where data breaches and AI ethics concerns regularly make headlines, Vanta's growth story is more than just another unicorn tale. It's a reflection of our evolving relationship with technology and the increasing premium placed on demonstrable trust. As the company deploys its new funds and expands its reach, its success or failure could have implications far beyond its balance sheet, potentially influencing the future of tech regulation and corporate responsibility in the AI era.