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By Pritam Biswas
(Reuters) -Online security and compliance management platform Vanta said on Wednesday it had raised $150 million in a fresh funding round led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, giving it a valuation of $2.45 billion.
Companies pursuing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption are attracting the attention of U.S. venture capital firms after a near two-year lull driven by high interest rates and a sluggish exit market for startup investors.
Vanta said it wants to double down on its AI innovation, eliminate legacy tools in compliance and deepen its global presence by venturing into the UK and Australia.
The venture capital businesses of banking giants Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase also participated in the round that saw all previous investors returning, bringing the lifetime raise of the company to $353 million since 2021.
San Francisco-based Vanta had raised $50 million in 2021 in a round led by Sequoia Capital, which also participated in its fundraise the year after.
"Having Sequoia triple down on Vanta, including leading both our Series A and Series C rounds is tremendous validation," CEO Christina Cacioppo said, adding that such a sustained and long-term partnership is "rare".
The company achieved a valuation of $1.6 billion when it raised $110 million in 2022.
It has more than 8,000 customers, including hiring platform SmartRecruiters and database company ZoomInfo.
Vanta, founded in 2018 by Cacioppo, helps its clients with security monitoring and achieving compliance certifications at a faster pace through process automation.
"We're investing in Vanta because of their demonstrated platform approach, starting with automated compliance and rapidly adding new modules," said Goldman Sachs growth equity investor Mike Reilly.
Atlassian Ventures, Craft Ventures, CrowdStrike Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Workday Ventures and Y Combinator were the other investors in the funding round.
(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
