Cloudflare, a US-based content delivery technology provider backed by multiple corporate investors, secured $150m today in a series E round led by investment management firm Franklin Templeton.
The company concurrently announced that Stan Meresman, formerly chief financial officer of computing technology provider Silicon Graphics, and Maria Eitel, founder and co-chair of Nike Foundation, the charitable arm of apparel producer Nike, have joined its board of directors.
Founded in 2009, Cloudflare has developed a global content delivery network (CDN) it claims powers almost 10% of all internet traffic. It also provides cybersecurity tools including technology designed to minimise the effects of distributed denials of service attacks on websites.
The funding will help the company expand its range of products, drive business growth and support expansion efforts into additional international markets.
Cloudflare has now raised $332m in total. It was reportedly in the process of preparing an initial public offering expected to take place in the first half of this year which would have valued it at $3.5bn, but no further updates have emerged since initial reports in October 2018.
The company received $110m in a series D round in 2015 featuring software provider Microsoft, internet group Baidu, CapitalG and Qualcomm Ventures, corporate venturing subsidiaries of internet technology conglomerate Alphabet and mobile chipmaker Qualcomm respectively.
The series D was led by financial services and investment group Fidelity Research and Management and also featured existing investors New Enterprise Associates, Pelion Venture Partners, Venrock, Union Square Ventures and Greenspring Associates.
