Northern Ireland Startup Cloudsmith raise $15 million

The Belfast-headquartered startup Cloudsmith, who are leaders in software supply chain management, have announced that they have raised a $15 million Series A funding round led by Tiger Global.

The landmark raise is the largest ever Series A funding round in Northern Ireland and is the largest technology funding round in Northern Ireland since 2005, according to PitchBook data.

Other investors in the round include Shasta, Amaranthine, Sorenson and Leadout Capital as well as previous investors Frontline, MMC and Techstart. Docker CEO Scott Johnston, Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar and Puppet CEO Yvonne Wassenaar also participated in the round.

Cloudsmith allows businesses to manage software via the cloud, eliminating the need to hire dedicated support staff to handle expensive and unwieldy on-premises solutions.

Current on-premises solutions often require businesses to pay for dedicated staffing, VPNs and licences. Cloudsmith’s cloud-native solution eliminates the need for these expenses, vastly simplifying the system needed through its continuous packaging method.

Cloudsmith’s software can automatically scan for vulnerabilities, helping businesses avoid introducing security flaws into their software supply chains. The security of software supply chains is a major issue around the world, with US president Joe Biden announcing an executive order in May which ordered the Federal Government to improve the security of its software supply chain.

Cloudsmith has customers globally in Europe, the US, the Middle East and Australia, including the Internet Systems Consortium, Carta and Font Awesome. US-based companies now make up 60% of the company’s revenues.

The company plans to use the new funding to hire 60 new employees and expand its US sales and engineering teams.

Cloudsmith was founded in 2016 by former NYSE developers Alan Carson and Lee Skillen and announced a £2.1 million seed investment round led by Frontline Ventures, MMC Ventures and Techstart in 2019.

This funding round supports Belfast’s position as becoming one of the UK’s most promising technology clusters. Tech Nation data released last year found that 26pc of Belfast’s workforce is now employed in the digital technology economy. Belfast was also named one of the UK’s most promising emerging technology clusters by Tech Nation earlier this year.

Alan Carson, Co-Founder & CEO of Cloudsmith, said: “Cloudsmith was built to tackle the complexity of managing software assets, which is a key challenge for any company to secure their software supply chains. Our service allows our customers to track and control the distribution of any software asset and provides tooling to minimize the risks of utilizing open-source software. It’s a massive problem for the whole industry and our investors, led by Tiger Global, understand the need for a fully managed cloud-native solution that Cloudsmith provides.”

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