AI Cybersecurity Startup Upwind Raises at $3.8 Billion Value

Upwind Security, a San Francisco-based startup offering cybersecurity for artificial intelligence and cloud applications, has secured $400 million in fresh financing that values the company at $3.8 billion.

Bessemer Venture Partners led the investment, with participation from existing backers including Greylock Partners and Craft Ventures, Upwind told Bloomberg News. Some details of the round were previously reported by Bloomberg News.

The startup has raised $830 million since its founding in 2022 and was last valued at $1.5 billion in January.

Upwind’s platform detects threats in companies’ cloud infrastructure, such as malware or suspicious activity, and gives them visibility into those vulnerabilities. Earlier this year, the startup expanded the platform to mitigate risks from AI.

Cybersecurity is evolving as AI models becoming more adept at finding and potentially exploiting software weaknesses at unprecedented speed and scale. Last week, governments and companies around the world pulled down their sites as a protective measure after security researchers, assisted by AI, discovered two flaws in PHP, a programming language that underpins much of the internet.

The growing threat has led to a flurry of venture capital investments in security companies seeking to plug such weaknesses.

“In the last three months, there was more activity than in the last four years combined,” said Chief Executive Officer Amiram Shachar in an interview, pointing to proliferating attacks, breaches and zero-day flaws, industry terminology for previously undisclosed security weaknesses.

“The cost or the knowledge for people to start hacking or doing reconnaissance or doing manipulations or behaving maliciously is down to zero when you have an AI tool,” he added.

The startup is approaching $100 million in annual recurring revenue, a projection of annual revenue based on a shorter time period, by the end of the year, he said.

Upwind plans to use the investment for engineering development and to bolster its sales and marketing efforts, according to Shachar. The startup employs some 600 workers in the US, Israel, Europe and Asia.

Photo: Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg