Verkada secures $200m funding to enhance market presence
Verkada has announced a successful Series E funding round worth $200 million, led by General Catalyst with substantial investment from Eclipse, placing the company's valuation at $4.5 billion.
Since its establishment in 2016, Verkada has now raised over $700 million. This latest investment aims to enable Verkada to further enhance its market presence in the physical security sector, primarily by advancing the integration of artificial intelligence into its offerings.
The firm has seen a 111% growth in its customer base since its previous funding round in September 2022, with over 70% of its large customers utilising two or more of its products. Prominent existing investors such as Sequoia, Next47, Meritech, MSD, First Round Capital, Felicis, and Linse Capital also participated in this funding.
Verkada's platform spans six product lines, including video security cameras, access control, intercoms, environmental sensors, alarms, and workplace management solutions. These products are designed to streamline physical security operations for businesses through a cloud-based platform. With a customer base exceeding 30,000 organisations, including 91 of the Fortune 500 companies, Verkada provides AI-enabled tools aimed at enhancing operational safety and efficiency.
Machine learning technology and computer vision have been pivotal in evolving Verkada's offerings. The company recently augmented its capabilities with new AI-powered features, including natural language search and alerting functionalities, designed to make investigative processes more intuitive and address specific industry needs.
"Today, more than 1.5 million Verkada devices are online protecting people and places across the globe, and we have an incredible opportunity ahead as we continue to rapidly increase our market share and deliver category-defining solutions to our more than 30,000 customers," said Filip Kaliszan, Co-Founder and CEO of Verkada.
Deep Nishar, Managing Director at General Catalyst, commented on the company's impact, stating, "Verkada's ability to integrate AI into real-world applications like video security, predictive maintenance, and environmental monitoring, has allowed their customers to interact with their security systems in intuitive, transformative ways."
Nishar continued, "The business potential is enormous - whether it's protecting schools, hospitals, retailers, or manufacturing facilities, Verkada's combination of cloud-native software and integrated hardware we believe positions the company well to scale and reshape how we think about safety and security on a global scale."
Aidan Madigan-Curtis from Eclipse, which invests in technology bridging digital and physical domains, noted the insufficiency of outdated security systems.
"Safety is increasingly on the minds of parents, audiences, consumers, and others in public and private arenas, but our infrastructure is severely lacking in secure, modern systems for threat detection, access control, and emergency alerting," says Madigan-Curtis. "This is a pivotal moment in time to combine the best in computer vision, advanced hardware, and AI to serve all citizens and their families. Eclipse is proud to partner with the Verkada team in order to continue to amplify the company's scale and global reach."
