Security Startup Illumio Lands $100 Million From BlackRock, Accel

Illumio, a security startup based in Sunnyvale, Calif., has raised a $100 million round of funding including new investments from BlackRock and the venture capital firm Accel Partners.

It’s Illumio’s third round, and brings its total capital raised to $142 million. Prior investors, including the venture capital firms Formation 8, Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst, all participated in the latest round. The company also has personal investments from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang and Microsoft Chairman John Thompson.

Illumio spent two years in stealth mode building what it calls its Adaptive Security Platform. Essentially, it’s software that allows corporate IT managers to create security rules and policies that govern how their systems operate. Its approach allows those managers to craft those rules in natural language, making it generally easier to use.

Its secret sauce is its utterly agnostic approach to IT infrastructure. Illumio works with whatever systems may be in place, in any combination: Local servers, all-cloud, or, as is most likely, a blend of both. The system also adapts as the infrastructure changes. First, it maps it out visually, so it’s possible to see all the places where data is flowing on the network. Then it’s a relatively simple matter to start building rules to enforce security policies governing how it flows, and those rules can change as the infrastructure changes.

In an interview in New York, CEO Andrew Rubin said the proceeds will primarily be used to double down on research and development but also to get the product out on the market. “The early traction with the product indicates to us that we should take aggressive action, now.” That plan includes doubling the company’s headcount, currently about 100, within the next 12 months.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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