Orca Security raises another $340 million, boosts valuation to $1.8 billion

Israeli cybersecurity company Orca Security announced on Tuesday that it has raised an additional $340 million at a $1.8 billion valuation to take its extended Series C fundraising round to $550 million. Orca announced in March that it had raised a $210 million Series C at a $1.2 billion valuation led by Alphabet's independent growth fund CapitalG and Redpoint Ventures. In July it was revealed in Calcalist that Temasek, an investment company headquartered in Singapore, would be investing another $150 million in the company, which was confirmed by Orca on Tuesday.

Orca has raised a total of $640 million since its founding, $605 million of which was raised within the last year. The company wouldn't reveal how much of the money from its latest round entered its accounts, but according to industry estimates it is believed that a significant amount from the current round didn't make its way to the company but rather to its early investors. VC YL Ventures, which was Orca's first notable investor, sold some of its holdings in this round but remains one of the company's main shareholders.

Orca’s C round also included participation from venture capital firms GGV, ICONIQ Capital, Lone Pine Capital, Stripes, Adams Street Partners, Willoughby Capital, and Harmony Partners.

"We didn't plan to extend the round when we closed it at $210 million, but there was a lot of interest, especially from Temasek, a very significant organization which is important for us to work with and we chose to continue the round and extend it rather than starting a new one," Orca CEO Avi Shua told Calcalist. "Part of the sum was used to acquire shares from YL, the company's first investor."

"We have registered year-over-year growth of 800% and we are way ahead of our prediction which was very aggressive to start with and according to which we had raised money from investors," added Shua. "We are over 50% above our predictions, with over 100 organizations purchasing our product."

It was reported in the past that Orca reached unicorn status despite only generating an annual revenue of several million dollars, but according to estimates, its sales have grown significantly since.

Orca was almost the only company in its sector in its early days, but it has since been joined by fellow Israeli company Wiz and several other competitors from the U.S. "We set up the market and we’re the crazy ones who thought that you can provide cybersecurity without agents," noted Shua.

Shua said Orca could have received a higher valuation, but chose instead to bring in an investor that provides added value. "We could have gotten a more significant valuation but it is important to know who you are marrying and I chose a fund that gives me far more added value. Temasek is the only fund that can help us and has a long-term outlook. I don't believe they are looking to acquire us and that was never discussed. The market in which we are active is massive and we are only a drop in the ocean. There is no limit to how much we can grow," claimed Shua.

Temasek, founded in 1974, has over $380 billion in assets under management. Its investments span a multitude of domains, including financial services, real estate, telecommunication, transportation, energy, and agriculture.

Orca Security was founded in 2019 by Avi Shua (CEO), Gil Geron (CPO), senior architects Matan Ben Gur, and Liran Antebi, senior software engineers Hadas Amitay, Wagde Zabit, Shay Filosof, and Eti Spiegel-Khobra (success manager), all of whom are former employees of Check Point.

Orca's Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) is unique in that it doesn't require the support of software agents which in a vast majority of cases aren't properly integrated into organizations. The system achieves full and fast coverage within minutes as none of its code is active within the organization's cloud, unlike other solutions in the market that require several weeks to achieve full coverage. In addition, the system doesn't create overloads as it prioritizes and filters through thousands of different security notifications and highlights the crucial ones while providing insights on how to address them.

“Customers are fed up with agent-based tools that claim run-time protection but de facto are little more than a gimmick, typically reach only a fraction of the environment, and don’t provide the context security teams desperately need to prioritize critical alerts,” explained Shua. “Our growth is exploding because Orca Security simply works. We provide fast agentless deployment, 100 percent coverage of all cloud assets, and automatic prioritization of the alerts that demand quick action.”

Databricks, Robinhood, Autodesk, News Corp, NCR, Duolingo, Unity Technologies, and Druva, are among the company's clients. Orca said it is opening a physical office in London, where it will have an expanded sales presence, and a new R&D center, its first outside of Tel Aviv. Orca is also expanding its global partner program and is continuing to build rapid customer traction with partners in the U.S., Europe, India, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, and Japan.

"Orca Security’s skyrocketing success has cemented its place as a category leader in a multi-billion dollar industry,” said YL Ventures managing partner, Yoav Leitersdorf. “Orca has transformed cloud security, combining best-in-class technology, high caliber human capital, and a customer-verified solution to a fundamental problem. YL Ventures has supported Orca Security since its seed round, and continues to do so as Orca becomes a veritable cybersecurity heavyweight."