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After a $51m funding round, Shape Security said that an IPO is in the pipeline for the company.
On Thursday (12 September), Santa Clara enterprise security firm Shape Security announced that it had raised $51m in a recent Series F funding round.
The round was led by C5 Capital, with additional participation from returning investors Kleiner Perkins, HPE Growth, Norwest Ventures Partners, Focus Ventures, JetBlue Technology Ventures, Top Tier Capital Partners and Epic Ventures.
To date, Shape Security has raised a total of $183m. In a statement regarding the recent funding round, the company also revealed that it has reached a valuation of $1bn.
The anti-fraud company, which was founded in 2011, is headquartered in California, with offices in London and Sydney.
Shape Security is used to defend some of the world’s largest enterprises from fraud in online applications, including more than half of all online banking in North America. The company also serves global brands across telecomms, e-commerce, government, travel and hospitality, insurance and healthcare, claiming that it “protects more accounts from fraud than all other providers in the space combined”.
Growth plans
According to a number of reports, Shape’s founders have said they are planning an IPO now that the company has achieved unicorn status. Despite saying that “preparation for an IPO is part of our plan”, the company did not give a timeframe for launching a public offering.
Co-founder and CEO of Shape Security, Derek Smith, said: “This investment will help us scale our international operations and fuel our AI development.
“Our new and returning investors, coupled with our continued track record of growth, underscore our vision to protect all enterprises from fraudulent internet transactions.”
C5 Capital’s involvement will help the company accelerate growth across Europe and the Middle East. The funding will also support Shape’s continued growth in North America.
André Pienaar, managing partner at C5 Capital, said: “Shape’s growth and product innovation is unlike anything we’ve seen in enterprise security. Shape already protects internet users at scale by detecting and blocking up to 2bn fraudulent transactions daily. This new injection of capital will further the company’s global market penetration.”
