Exabeam -- a security analytics software company that promotes XDR and SIEM capabilities to MSSP partners -- has raised $200 million in Series F funding and hired a new CEO. Indeed, McAfee and ForeScout veteran Michael DeCesare succeeds Exabeam founding CEO Nir Polak.
Exabeam develops a security management platform that helps organizations detect threats and minimize false-positive alerts.
DeCesare has IPO (initial public offering) experience from his time leading ForeScout Technologies. Polak, meanwhile, shifts to chairman of Exabeam and "will continue on as an active member of the executive team and remain at the company," according to the funding announcement. However, the announcement did not mention Polak's new day-to-day title at the security software company.
Exabeam Valuation, MSSP Partner Momentum
The funding round values Exabeam at $2.4 billion. The Owl Rock division of Blue Owl Capital led the round, with support from existing investors Acrew Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Norwest Venture Partners
The funding arrives as Exabeam appears to be accelerating its channel momentum. Exabeam's partner program now spans more than 400 reseller, distributor, system integrator, MSSP, MDR and consulting companies globally, the company said. Also, Exabeam's software now features more than 500 technology integrations.
On the technology front, Exabeam Chief Product Officer Adam Geller will now lead both the product and engineering organizations. Geller was previously a senior vice president of cloud security at Palo Alto Networks before joining Exabeam in 2020, the announcement notes.
Exabeam Funding and CEO Leadership: Executive Statements
Multiple executive leaders and investors shared perspectives about the Exabeam Series F funding and CEO announcement.
In a prepared statement about the funding and career move, DeCesare said:
“Exabeam defined the user entity and behavior analytics (UEBA) security technology category and is a leader in the security information and event management (SIEM) market. Innovation is in our DNA. We are reimagining the threat detection, investigation and response (TDIR) problem with an open extended detection and response (XDR), offering automation and use case-specific content so security analysts can quickly defend against threats, which is a true game changer for security teams. Nir has built an incredibly robust, diverse and inclusive culture at Exabeam, and I am committed to helping it flourish. I’m thrilled to join Nir, Adam and the whole leadership team to help drive the company through its next phase of growth.”
Added Polak:
“This funding round gives us the operating capital required to continue executing on our vision to deliver the number one trusted cloud SecOps platform on the market. It gives us the opportunity to triple down on our R&D efforts and continue engineering the most advanced UEBA, XDR and SIEM cloud security products available today. Now with Mike at the helm and Adam’s leadership over product and engineering, we have assembled a seasoned executive team ready to scale and take our business to the next level.”
Exabeam Funding and CEO Leadership: Investor Statements
Noted Pravin Vazirani, managing director and co-head of tech investing, Blue Owl Capital:
“Exabeam is poised to be the next-gen leader in the cloud security analytics, XDR and SIEM markets. We led this round of funding to provide the company with the resources necessary to support its sustainable, long-term growth and value creation. In today’s operating environment, cybersecurity is increasingly recognized as a mission-critical function across industries, and we’re proud to partner with Michael, Nir and the Exabeam team as they seize the opportunity ahead of them, continue to innovate and enable their clients to stay at the forefront in terms of identifying and addressing threats across their technology platforms.”
Ravi Mhatre, partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Exabeam board member, said:
“Exabeam is in the middle of a large IT and cybersecurity trend, where organizations must capture more data across a growing distributed IT infrastructure while ensuring the security and integrity of the platforms upon which their businesses operate. To the credit of its leadership, Exabeam has been able to quickly pivot to digital, remote and hybrid IT work strategies, driving new sales while making existing customers even more successful. We look forward to the company’s continued growth.”
Noted Theresia Gouw, founding partner, Acrew Capital, and Exabeam board member:
“Cloud adoption by large enterprises has been pulled forward, and Exabeam is in an elite group of companies that successfully weathered market uncertainties through 2020 as it accelerated its move to a cloud-first company. Exabeam is a leading security player in a high-demand, high-stakes market where business and IT executives must be able to see all of their data, no matter its location, to make smart security, infrastructure and business decisions. The proven leadership at Exabeam continues to execute exceedingly well, and last year, the company was the fastest private security management company to hit $100 million in ARR.”
Concluded Matthew Howard, general partner, Norwest Venture Partners:
“This funding and valuation mark a new chapter in Exabeam’s journey as it pushes full speed ahead on breaking out of the security management space and becoming a 100 percent fully ‘for-the-cloud’ SecOps innovator. We are confident the company will continue to deliver additional value to security operation centers (SOCs), helping them become even more efficient and effective at protecting their organizations.”
