Upwind, a runtime-first cloud security company, has raised $250 million in Series B financing, bringing total funding to $430 million. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from Salesforce Ventures and Picture Capital, alongside existing investors including Greylock, Cyberstarts, Leaders Fund, Craft Ventures, TCV, Alta Park, Cerca Partners, Swish Ventures, and Penny Jar Capital.
The company said the Series B kicks off what it calls “The Next Wave,” a growth phase focused on expanding runtime-first cloud security to support enterprise adoption of AI and real-time cloud applications. Upwind positions its approach as a response to cloud environments that have outpaced security models built around posture snapshots and static signals, which can generate high alert volumes without clearly identifying what is exploitable.
Upwind said it has achieved 900% year-over-year revenue growth and 200% logo growth since its $100 million funding round about a year ago. Over the same period, it said it expanded headcount from 150 to more than 300 employees and broadened its footprint across the U.S., U.K., and Israel, with additional momentum in Australia, India, Singapore, and Japan. The company reports it secures millions of workloads for enterprises, including Waste Management, Siemens, Carvana, Roku, ClickUp, Wix, Nubank, Agoda, Peloton, Fiverr, and BILL.
Upwind also highlighted customer-reported outcomes, including a 98% reduction in security alerts and 60% fewer irrelevant CVEs, attributing the results to the runtime context that helps teams prioritize real risk. The company said it has expanded its partner ecosystem with 100+ new partners across ISVs, MSPs, and resellers, launched a strategic partnership with NVIDIA, and deepened collaborations with hyperscalers, including Microsoft Azure and AWS.
With the new capital, Upwind said it will accelerate product development and go to market execution while continuing to invest in customer support and global growth. The company plans to expand its platform across data, AI, and code, including advancing AI security capabilities within its core platform and extending its runtime-first approach closer to developers to prevent misconfigurations before they reach production.
KEY QUOTES
“Cloud infrastructure has changed faster than the security models designed to protect it. The next era of cloud security requires a fundamentally different approach, centered in realtime signals. That’s actually the only way to protect the cloud in the new era of AI. We built Upwind for where the cloud is going, not where it has been. This funding round is a small milestone in our journey, but it marks a big day, and it reflects a growing recognition and validates what customers and the market see.”
Amiram Shachar, CEO & Co-founder, Upwind
“Cloud security is already one of the largest and fastest growing segments in cybersecurity, and Upwind stood out to us as the right team with the right product in the right time, building for where the market is going. Their modern, runtime-first approach, focus on signal over noise, and battle-tested founding team have translated into a company and product that are trusted and loved by security, engineering and platform (DevOps) teams, and used as a true platform. We’re very proud to partner with Upwind as they build the runtime-first cloud security platform for the next generation of enterprises.”
Elliott Robinson, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners
“Upwind is incredibly impressive. We are honored to invest in and partner with them, as their pace of innovation is relentless. If you have seen them before, I strongly suggest you meet with them again. If you haven’t seen them yet, you owe it to your organization and architecture to see what they’ve built.”
Rakesh Loonkar, Managing Partner, Picture Capital
“Cloud security has been missing real context for too long,” said Jerich Beason, CISO at Waste Management. “Upwind changes that by showing us what is actually happening at runtime and why it matters. The agent built on top of the platform lets us interrogate our own data in real time, which saves us time and money while making our cloud security operations more efficient and effective. They are building the future of cloud security, and we are glad we got on board early.”
Jerich Beason, CISO, Waste Management
“Thrilled to partner with Amiram from day 0, and build an important cloud security company in one of the fastest-growing, most innovation-hungry markets we’ve seen – shaped by cloud scale and AI velocity.”
Gili Raanan, Founder & General Partner, Cyberstarts
“Upwind’s rapid growth reflects the industry’s urgent need for a new approach to cloud security, one built for real-time challenges. We’ve partnered with Amiram and the Upwind team since the company’s inception and have seen firsthand how they’ve set the standard for category leadership through real innovation and a platform designed for modern cloud environments. We’re incredibly proud to continue partnering with Upwind as they continue to lead the category forward.”
Saam Motamedi, General Partner, Greylock
“Upwind continues to set the standard for what comes next in cloud security. From the beginning, the team recognized that securing modern, AI-driven cloud environments would require a runtime-centric approach, a view that has since become central to enterprise cloud security strategies. This is our third major investment in Upwind, reflecting our conviction in a customer-obsessed team that is shaping the future of cloud security in the AI era.”
Michael Robinson, Partner & Head of Investment Team, Craft Ventures
“We’ve believed in Amiram and the Upwind team since the Spot.io days, and our conviction has only grown as the company has executed. Each time we’ve had the opportunity to invest further, we’ve doubled down. The shift away from static security approaches is inevitable in an AI-powered, real-time cloud security world, and Upwind is purpose built for how modern cloud environments actually operate. This is the team setting the standard for cloud security in the largest market in the cybersecurity industry.”
Gideon Hayden, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Leaders Fund
“We at TCV aspire to invest in markets and companies that can compound over decades. We believe Cloud Security is such a market and Upwind is such a company. This $250M Series B investment suggests we aren’t alone in our belief. Up & Up!”
Morgan Gerlak, Partner, TCV Velocity
“As cloud security shifts towards runtime at an accelerating pace, we believe Upwind has emerged as the clear leader in this new paradigm with the first and only runtime-native cloud security platform. Upwind’s runtime-centric CNAPP has now been battle-tested by leading enterprises with some of the most complex and demanding cloud environments. Since our initial investment in Upwind over a year ago, it’s been remarkable to witness the team’s exceptional customer-centricity and product velocity as they continue to deliver new capabilities and define the future of cloud security.”
Carson Fullard, Managing Director, Alta Park
“We have tremendous confidence in Amiram and the team at Upwind. He leads by example, holding himself to the highest of standards to inspire those around him to achieve excellence for customers. We’re proud to support Upwind in their next phase of growth.”
Bryant Barr, Founding Partner, Penny Jar Capital
