Upwind, a cloud security company focused on runtime protection, has raised $250 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with Salesforce Ventures and Picture Capital joining as new investors. Existing backers including Greylock, Cyberstarts, Leaders Fund, Craft Ventures, TCV, Alta Park, Cerca Partners, Swish Ventures, and Penny Jar Capital also participated. The funding brings Upwind’s total capital raised to $430 million since its 2022 founding.

The investment comes as Upwind reports 900% year-over-year revenue growth and 200% expansion in customer count. The company has grown from 150 to more than 300 employees in the past year, expanding its presence across the U.S., U.K., and Israel while building momentum in Australia, India, Singapore, and Japan.

A Different Approach to Cloud Protection

Upwind positions itself as a runtime-first cloud security platform, focusing on real-time signals rather than static security snapshots. The company argues that traditional cloud security models struggle to keep pace with rapidly changing cloud infrastructure and the demands of AI-driven applications.

“The next era of cloud security requires a fundamentally different approach, centered in realtime signals,” said Amiram Shachar, CEO and co-founder at Upwind. “We built Upwind for where the cloud is going, not where it has been.”

The cloud security market continues to grow rapidly. According to Frost & Sullivan, the global Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) market is projected to reach $18.79 billion by 2029, growing at approximately 28% annually. Gartner predicts that by 2029, 40% of enterprises successfully implementing zero trust in cloud environments will rely on CNAPP solutions for visibility and control.

Reducing Alert Fatigue for Enterprises

Upwind now secures millions of workloads for global enterprises including Waste Management, Siemens, Carvana, Roku, ClickUp, Wix, Nubank, Agoda, Peloton, Fiverr, and BILL. The company’s customers report a 98% reduction in security alerts and 60% fewer irrelevant CVEs, which helps teams focus on actual threats rather than noise.

Jerich Beason, CISO at Waste Management, explained the value: “Upwind changes that by showing us what is actually happening at runtime and why it matters.”

Over the past year, Upwind added more than 100 new partners across independent software vendors, managed service providers, and resellers. The company launched a strategic partnership with NVIDIA and deepened relationships with Microsoft Azure and AWS.

Investing in Data, AI, and Code Security

With the new funding, Upwind plans to accelerate product development and market expansion while continuing to invest in customer support. The company will focus on three main areas: data security, AI security, and code security. This includes advancing AI security capabilities within its core platform and extending its runtime approach to help developers prevent misconfigurations before they reach production.

The funding will also support Upwind’s international growth as enterprise demand for runtime cloud security increases. The company aims to build on its recent market recognition and customer momentum to establish itself as a long-term player in the cloud security space.

Building on a Track Record

Upwind was founded in 2022 by Amiram Shachar and the team behind Spot.io, which was acquired by NetApp for $450 million. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and brings together expertise in cloud infrastructure and security.

The founding team’s previous success has helped Upwind attract both enterprise customers and top-tier investors. The company’s rapid growth reflects broader industry trends as organizations seek more sophisticated approaches to securing complex cloud environments.

Strong Investor Backing

The Series B marks Upwind’s third major funding round in just over two years. Investors expressed confidence in both the team’s execution and the market opportunity.

Elliott Robinson, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, said the firm was impressed by Upwind’s “modern, runtime-first approach, focus on signal over noise, and battle-tested founding team.”

Rakesh Loonkar, Managing Partner at Picture Capital, added: “their pace of innovation is relentless.”

Existing investors also participated in the round. Gili Raanan, Founder and General Partner at Cyberstarts, noted the company operates in “one of the fastest-growing, most innovation-hungry markets we’ve seen.” Saam Motamedi, General Partner at Greylock, emphasized that Upwind has “set the standard for category leadership through real innovation.”

Upwind has received recognition from multiple industry analysts. The company was named CNADR Company of the Year by Frost & Sullivan and recognized as a Leader and Outperformer in Container Security. It appears in the Gartner 2025 Market Guide for CNAPP and three Gartner Hype Cycles, and holds a 4.9 out of 5 rating on Gartner Peer Insights. Fortune named Upwind to its Cyber 60 list, and the company was recognized as a CRN 2025 Stellar Startup in Security.

Origianl Creator: Ekaterina Pisareva
Original Link: https://justainews.com/industries/cybersecurity/upwind-gets-250m-series-b-led-by-bessemer-ventures/
Originally Posted: Mon, 26 Jan 2026 15:56:00 +0000