Recommended Free Tools
Some links on this page are affiliate links: if you buy through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Lacework announced a $1.3 billion second Series D funding round on November 18, 2021, at a reported valuation of $8.3 billion. The financing was not a sale of the company. Described at the time as a record cybersecurity funding round, it backed a cloud-security startup whose technology later became part of Fortinet: the current product context is Lacework FortiCNAPP.
What Lacework raised in November 2021
The $1.3 billion was new equity financing in a second Series D round, announced November 18, 2021. The round was associated with a reported $8.3 billion valuation. Those figures mean different things: $1.3 billion was the amount raised; $8.3 billion was the reported value of the company after the financing. The valuation was not cash Lacework received, nor was it an acquisition price.
It was also not Lacework’s first Series D. In January 2021, the company had raised $525 million in an earlier Series D round. Its funding history cited at the time also included $24 million in Series B funding in 2018 and $42 million in Series C funding in 2019. Adding those rounds to the November financing gives approximately $1.9 billion in reported funding. Lacework later described its cumulative funding as more than $1.8 billion; totals can vary with counting methods. SecurityWeek’s contemporaneous report details the round and earlier financing.
“Record-breaking” belongs to the period’s coverage of the deal. It should not be read as a claim that the round remains the largest cybersecurity financing ever under every definition or at every later date.
#1 Best Overall
Who invested?
Existing investors Sutter Hill Ventures, Altimeter Capital, D1 Capital Partners, and Tiger Global Management led the round. New participants named in coverage included Franklin Templeton, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Durable Capital, General Catalyst, and XN. Published reporting identified the participants but did not give individual check sizes, so it does not establish that they invested equally.
What Lacework’s platform did
Lacework sold cloud-security software. Its Polygraph platform was described as collecting and correlating data across environments including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, and hybrid infrastructure. The company positioned machine learning and behavioral analysis as ways to identify important activity across changing cloud environments, prioritize alerts, and reduce reliance on disconnected security tools.
That proposition addressed a real operational challenge: cloud workloads can be distributed and change quickly, while security teams may be managing fragmented tools and large alert volumes. Lacework’s strategy was to connect signals across cloud infrastructure and applications rather than treat each environment as a separate security silo. These were product positioning claims, not independent proof that the platform outperformed competitors.
The wider market context helped explain investor interest. Businesses were shifting more workloads to public cloud and hybrid systems, and security teams were adapting products and processes built for more fixed networks and data centers. Contemporary reporting also linked pandemic-era cloud adoption with growing demand for cloud security. Those conditions help explain the opportunity investors saw; they do not, by themselves, prove product quality or account for the company’s valuation.
Rank #3
How Lacework said it would use the money
The company said it planned to expand go-to-market operations, hire more staff, increase its international presence, continue product development, and pursue strategic acquisitions. Lacework also cited rapid growth in revenue, new customers, and employees. The figures reported at the time were growth multiples supplied by the company, not audited revenue, customer, or headcount totals, and should not be converted into estimates of actual scale.
One acquisition had already been announced shortly before the financing: Lacework said on November 11, 2021, that it was acquiring Soluble to strengthen its DevSecOps capabilities. In November 2023, it announced an expansion of code-security coverage across the application-development lifecycle. These moves fit a broader effort to connect security checks from development through cloud deployment, though current product packaging and capabilities may differ from those historical descriptions. Lacework’s 2023 announcement describes that code-security expansion.
What happened to Lacework afterward?
- November 2021: Lacework announced the $1.3 billion second Series D round.
- November 2021: The company announced its acquisition of Soluble.
- November 2023: Lacework announced expanded code-security coverage.
- June 10, 2024: Fortinet announced an agreement to acquire Lacework. Financial terms were not disclosed. Fortinet said Lacework served nearly 1,000 customers at the time. Fortinet’s announcement provides its account of the proposed deal.
- August 1, 2024: Fortinet said the acquisition had closed effective that date. It described plans to integrate Lacework’s CNAPP technology into its Security Fabric. The completion announcement confirms the closing.
- October 2024: Fortinet announced general availability of Lacework FortiCNAPP. See Fortinet’s product announcement.
For current buyers, the relevant question is no longer simply what the independent Lacework startup sold. The product to evaluate is Lacework FortiCNAPP, and buyers should confirm current packaging, support, integrations, contract continuity, and roadmap directly with Fortinet. Historical Lacework branding and feature descriptions may not match current terms or product capabilities.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsWhat the funding round does—and does not—tell us
The round shows how much investor capital was available for cloud-native security companies in 2021 and how highly investors valued Lacework at that financing. It does not establish that the company would remain independent, that its later acquisition happened at the same valuation, or what investors ultimately earned.
Best Value
Fortinet did not disclose the acquisition price in its announcement. As a result, public terms cited here do not show whether the acquisition was above, at, or below Lacework’s 2021 reported valuation, and they do not establish investor returns. Calling the deal a bailout, fire sale, or financial win would go beyond the available facts.
The acquisition also represents a strategic trade-off for customers. Integrating cloud security into a larger vendor platform may appeal to organizations seeking consolidated tools and an existing Fortinet relationship. A consolidated platform can also mean greater vendor dependence, while product integration may affect packaging, APIs, support, and roadmaps. Buyers comparing CNAPP products should check their own requirements for AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, code security, runtime protection, deployment approach, integrations, and contract terms rather than assuming that historical claims cover their current environment. Fortinet’s product information is available at its Lacework FortiCNAPP page.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
