Enterprise software producer Salesforce has invested an amount likely to be about $120m in US-based cybersecurity technology provider Tanium at a $9bn valuation.
Although the companies have not confirmed the size of the deal, Tanium said in an emailed statement cited by CNBC that it has now raised $900m altogether, up from roughly $780m as of its last round, when it secured $200m in October 2018 at a $6.5bn pre-money valuation.
Tanium has built software that manages and secures endpoints for an organisation, utilising what it calls linear chain management to reach each endpoint and collect data in real time to monitor activity without slowing down as the organisation grows.
Salesforce made the investment through a strategic partnership agreement that will involve it collaborating with Tanium on an employee service management product.
Orion Hindawi, Tanium’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “Many IT departments are struggling to manage the new IT reality: highly distributed, collaborative, remote and agile. They are finding that their legacy tools were not designed for the environment they now face.
“With Tanium and Salesforce’s strengths, we are uniquely positioned to deliver an end-to-end enterprise grade endpoint and service management platform that fits perfectly with our customers’ new, work-from-anywhere world.”
Wellington Management led the late 2018 round, participating alongside fellow investment management firm Baillie Gifford and hedge fund Adage Capital Management. It came five months after TPG Growth, part of private equity group TPG, invested $175m at a $5bn valuation.
The company’s earlier backers include TPG as well as Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price, and Citi Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of financial services firm Citi, though the latter has not revealed precisely when it invested.
