Snyk, an Israeli cybersecurity startup in the field of cloud native application security, raised $196.5 million in a Series G investment led by QIA (Qatar Investment Authority). While this is a whopping sum, it left the company with a valuation of only $7.4 billion. This after Snyk looked to holding an $8.5 billion IPO just one year ago.
But the big story here is that Qatar’s QIA is investing in Synk at all. Qatar, host of this year’s World Cup soccer championship, is an Arab Gulf state with no diplomatic ties with Israel. So money does talk after all.
The drop in valuation comes as little surprise to anyone who has been following what has been going on in Israel Startup Nation recently. Snyk is just one of many Israeli firms that were forced to make cutbacks in 2022, laying off 98 of its employees, or about 14% of its workforce, in October.
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Founded in 2015 by Israelis Assaf Hefetz, Danny Grander, and Guy Podjarny, Snyk provides cloud native application security (CNAS) solutions which enable modern applications to be built securely, empowering developers to own and build security for the whole application, from code and open source to containers and cloud infrastructure.
Snyk says that its SaaS platform can help developers find their vulnerabilities and license violations in their open source codebases, containers, and Kubernetes applications. By connecting their code repository, Snyk customers gain access to a giant vulnerability database, which enables Snyk to serve a description of the problem, point to where the flaw in the code lies, and even suggests a fix.
“In 2022, I’m proud that Snyk achieved a 100% year-over-year increase in revenue as well as net revenue retention of over 130%,” said Peter McKay, CEO, Snyk. “In this challenging macroeconomic environment, it is more critical than ever for global enterprises to increase their developer productivity and be able to continue their pace of innovation securely. In 2023, we look forward to leveraging this latest investment to continue enhancing our platform and help more global enterprises reap the benefits of DevSecOps.”
“QIA is delighted to lead this round to drive the further growth of Snyk, the established leader in developer security,” said Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, CEO, QIA. “We’re confident that Snyk’s proven approach and offerings, efficient financial growth and seasoned executive team position the company for a successful future and is aligned with QIA’s track record of supporting innovative companies shaping the future of the global economy.”