Upwind Raises $400M at $3.8B Valuation

Cloud security startup Upwind has raised $400 million in a Series C round that values the company at $3.8 billion. Bessemer Venture Partners led the financing, with existing investors and new backer Canapi Ventures also participating. The round gives Upwind more capital to expand its cloud and artificial intelligence security platform.

Upwind announced the financing on October 28, according to the company’s official website. The round brings the startup’s total funding to more than $800 million since its founding in 2022, Reuters reported.

Existing investors including Greylock Partners, Cyberstarts, Craft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Alta Park and TCV joined the round. Canapi Ventures participated as a new backer, while Bessemer led the financing. The investment gives Upwind a valuation more than double the roughly $1.5 billion figure associated with its previous financing.

The latest raise follows a $250 million Series B round completed nine months earlier. Reuters reported that Upwind had previously been valued at about $900 million after raising $100 million in December 2024. The rapid increase reflects investor interest in cybersecurity products built for cloud infrastructure and AI workloads.

Upwind describes itself as a cloud and AI security platform. Its technology combines information about cloud workloads, application programming interfaces and AI agents with runtime intelligence. In simple terms, runtime security monitors active systems and helps detect or respond to threats while those systems are operating.

The company says its platform can identify critical risks, create remediation plans and detect attacks in real time. Upwind also promotes tools for inventory management, exposure monitoring and agentic security. Those descriptions come from the company and do not independently establish the platform’s performance across different customers.

The market opportunity is expanding as businesses move more software and AI services into the cloud. More workloads can create more opportunities for misconfigured permissions, vulnerable services and attacks on automated systems. Security vendors are therefore competing to connect cloud visibility with faster threat detection and response.

TechCrunch reported that Datadog attempted to acquire Upwind while the financing was being arranged. The report said Datadog did not offer a premium above the $3.8 billion valuation set by venture investors. Upwind then chose to remain independent, according to a person familiar with the company.

Neither Upwind nor Datadog publicly confirmed the reported offer in the available sources. The acquisition claim should therefore be attributed to TechCrunch and the source familiar with the matter, rather than presented as a completed deal discussion.

The report said Upwind continues to attract acquisition interest. It also noted that the company could ultimately pursue a sale, even after choosing to raise more capital. Those possibilities remain future scenarios, not announced transactions.

The new funding gives Upwind time to build products, hire staff and expand sales without accepting an acquisition at the reported valuation. Reuters said the money will fund product expansion. The company’s official website says its platform is focused on securing cloud and AI environments as adoption grows.

TechCrunch reported that Upwind has been adding between $20 million and $30 million in annualised recurring revenue each quarter. A person familiar with its financials projected roughly $90 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of the year. Those figures were not disclosed in the official announcement and should be treated as reported estimates.

No verified direct quote from Upwind or Datadog was available in the sources checked. That limits what can be said about the acquisition discussions, the company’s growth plans and the rationale for remaining independent.

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In conclusion, Upwind has secured $400 million at a $3.8 billion valuation to expand its cloud and AI security business. The funding confirms strong investor interest, while the reported Datadog offer remains unconfirmed by the companies. Upwind’s next challenge will be turning its new capital and market momentum into durable growth.