Upwind, a San Francisco company that sells security software for cloud and AI infrastructure, has raised a $400m Series C led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The company announced the round on 28 October 2026, less than nine months after its $250m Series B.
The round values Upwind at $3.8bn, according to TechCrunch and Bloomberg. The Series B in January had valued it at $1.5bn.
All of Upwind's existing investors took part, the company said: Greylock Partners, Cyberstarts, Craft, Salesforce Ventures, Alta Park, Picture Capital, Swish Ventures, Cerca Partners, TCV, Penny Jar and Leaders Fund. Canapi Ventures joined as a new investor. Upwind says its total funding is now more than $800m; Bloomberg put the figure at $830m.
“In the last three months, there was more activity than in the last four years combined,”Amiram Shachar, CEO, Upwind (to Bloomberg News)
What Upwind does
Upwind protects workloads while they run in the cloud, an approach it calls runtime security. It watches live services for attacks and vulnerabilities and responds in real time, rather than relying only on periodic scans.
In its funding announcement, chief executive Amiram Shachar said the company is building AI sensors for endpoints, scanners for AI agents and skills, and a new version of its inventory graph. Three AI agents form part of the product: a Blue Agent that investigates attacks across log sources, a Red Agent that tests whether exposures can actually be exploited, and a Green Agent that drives fixes. Upwind has also set up an AI Labs unit for security research.
Bloomberg reported that the company was founded in 2022 and employs about 600 people in the US, Israel, Europe and Asia. Shachar previously sold the cloud cost company Spot.io to NetApp for $450m, according to TechCrunch.
Revenue and a Datadog approach
TechCrunch, citing a person familiar with the company's finances, reported that Upwind has been adding $20m to $30m in annual recurring revenue each quarter and is expected to end the year at about $90m. Shachar told Bloomberg the company is approaching $100m in annual recurring revenue by year end.
According to TechCrunch, the round nearly fell apart after Datadog tried to buy Upwind. A person familiar with the company said Datadog did not offer a premium over the $3.8bn valuation set by the venture investors, so Upwind chose to stay independent. TechCrunch said it had asked both companies for comment.
Shachar told Bloomberg that attacks, breaches and newly found software flaws had surged, saying there had been more activity in the last three months than in the previous four years combined.
What the money is for
Upwind says the new capital will go into product and engineering. Shachar wrote that the company wants to make its product simpler to use and expand into identity, data and AI security. He told Bloomberg it will also strengthen sales and marketing.
The company named HedgeServ and Ping Identity among its customers in the announcement.
Company website: upwind.io