NS1, a US-based network traffic management software developer backed by corporates Cisco, Dell, Deutsche Telekom, Telstra and Salesforce, picked up $40m in series D funding on Tuesday.
Energy-focused investment firm Energy Impact Partners (EIP) led the round, which included unnamed existing shareholders and which was closed at a “significant increase” in valuation, NS1 said without revealing a figure.
Founded in 2013, NS1 has developed software-defined networking technology that automatically manages traffic from internet and enterprise applications to ensure connections remain stable.
The company has signed up more than 600 clients to date including cloud storage provider Dropbox, newspaper publisher The Guardian and business networking portal LinkedIn. The latest funding will drive technology development and recruitment.
Shawn Cherian, partner at EIP, will join NS1’s board of directors in connection with the round, which boosted its funding to $125m to date. It collected $33m in an October 2019 series C round in led by Dell Technologies Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of computing technology producer Dell.
Networking equipment provider Cisco, enterprise software producer Salesforce and telecommunications firms Deutsche Telekom and Telstra also backed the 2019 round, through Cisco Investments, Salesforce Ventures, DTCP and Telstra Ventures respectively.
Entrée Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, GGV Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, Sigma Prime Ventures and Mango Capital filled out the series C round. It followed a $20m round led by GGV Capital and backed by DTCP, Salesforce Ventures, Telstra Ventures, Flybridge, Sigma Prime and Two Sigma in 2017.
DTCP led a series B round for NS1 in 2016 reportedly sized at more than $20m that included Flybridge, Sigma Prime and Two Sigma as well as an extension of undisclosed size provided by Telstra Ventures. It came after $5.4m from Flybridge, Sigma Prime, Founder Collective, Center Electric and various angel investors in 2015.
