Netskope

Netskope is a cloud access security broker company. The company provides a cloud-scale security platform for managing cloud usage in an enterprise. Netskope was founded in 2012 by CEO Sanjay Beri, CTO Krishna Narayanaswamy, Chief Architect Ravi Ithal, and then-VP of App Engineering Lebin Cheng. As of 2021, the company employs over 1000 people and owns more than seventy-five patents. In 2021, the company received a valuation of $7.5 billion.

Netskope's platform, called the Netskope Security Cloud, is a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform, which delivers network and security as a cloud service directly to the source of a connection rather than the enterprise data center. The company's Secure Web Gateway, dubbed the Next Gen SWG, allows users to block malware, detect threats, filter by category, protect data and control app use for users from any location or device. Netskope's platform also provides analytics through four dashboards for CxO security and risk, data risk and security, Cloud and SaaS risk and usage, and web and cloud-enabled threats.

The platform also features a cloud-based Zero Trust Access Network (ZTNA) called Netskope Private Access, which can allow authenticated users to connect with one another. Use cases for Private Access include augmenting remote access VPNs, providing third party access, cloud migration, M & A integration, accessing DevOps, and security transformation. Netskope also provides Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) services that protect managed cloud apps such as Office 365, Box, G Suite and others from threats or data breaches. In addition, Netskope also provides visibility, compliance, and security for public clouds like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Netskope provides SASE services to a multitude of businesses and government entities, including around 25% of Fortune 100 companies.

Since 2012, Netskope has participated in nine funding rounds, receiving over $1 billion in total. In Netskope's latest round, a Series G announced on July 9, 2021, the company raised $300 million and received a post-money valuation of $7.5 billion. The round was led by tech-based venture capital firm ICONIQ Growth, who was joined by existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Base Partners, Sapphire Ventures and Geodesic Capital.

As of 2021, there are no concrete plans for Netskope to become a publicly traded company. Netskope CEO Sanjay Beri told TechCrunch in 2021 that "going public is one day on our path," and speculated that the company "probably" wouldn't raise another private round.

Netskope has more than seventy-five patents and over sixty additional patents pending that make up its global patent portfolio. On July 9, 2021, the company announced that it recently been awarded several patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office, which include:

• Data Loss Prevention (DLP) based on object metadata (Patent No. 10,979,458)
• Detecting screenshot images for protection against loss of sensitive screenshot-borne data (Patent No. 10,949,961)
• Detecting image-borne identification documents for protecting sensitive information (Patent No. 10,990,856)
• Client software connection inspection and access control (Patent No. 11,019,031)
• Remotely accessed controlled contained environment (Patent No. 11,019,106)
• Middleware security layer for cloud computing services (Patent No. 11,019,101)