KnowBe4 offers security awareness and phishing-simulation tools that let organizations send harmless phishing tests and train employees to recognize and report social-engineering attacks. The company positions its product as a growing response to increasingly sophisticated phishing, ransomware and social-engineering threats. Management says demand for its security awareness training is growing rapidly and views international expansion as a key next step. Financially, KnowBe4 reports over $100 million of recurring revenue, near triple-digit growth that is accelerating, and profitability. The company has attracted significant private capital, which the team says could also enable building a broader platform through acquisitions of adjacent services. CEO Stu Sjouwerman emphasized the persistent market need and the role of the new funding in scaling the business. KnowBe4 provides a new‑school integrated security awareness training and simulated phishing platform used by more than 13,000 organizations worldwide. The company’s product combines simulated phishing attacks, videos, case studies and tests to train employees to recognize ransomware, CEO fraud and other social‑engineering tactics. KnowBe4 says its Q3 2017 sales were 2.63X greater than Q3 2016, marking its 18th straight quarter of growth. The company plans to invest new funding primarily in international expansion and product development and recently announced European growth plans. KnowBe4 was founded by Stu Sjouwerman (CEO) and lists Kevin Mitnick as Chief Hacking Officer; it is headquartered in Tampa Bay, Florida, with a European headquarters in London. KnowBe4 provides security awareness training and an integrated phishing platform. The company announced an $8M Series A round led by Elephant Partners on Feb 2, 2016. The financing was led by Elephant as the firm began investing out of its approximately $138M debut fund. Elephant Partners is a U.S.-based, recently formed venture firm co-founded in 2015 by Jeremiah Daly and Andy Hunt. Elephant has offices in Boston and New York; Daly previously served on the Malwarebytes board and Hunt co-founded Warby Parker. The announcement did not disclose revenue, user, or other operating metrics.

Total raised

$338M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Jun 2019