Compliance and privacy management startup Egress secures $40 in Series C funding round to accelerate global expansion

Egress, a UK-based software company that specializes in compliance and privacy management solutions for unstructured data, has raised $40 million in a Series C financing round to build on its ongoing rapid growth in Europe and North America, as well as accelerate development of new technology across its data security platform. The round was led by global private equity firm FTV Capital, with continued participation from existing backer AlbionVC. As part of the transaction, Egress also announced that FTV partner Kyle Griswold will join the Egress board of directors.

Founded in 2007 by John Goodyear, Neil Larkins, and Tony Pepper, Egress helps enterprises protect unstructured data to meet compliance requirements and drive business productivity. The company’s AI-powered platform enables users to control and secure the data they share. The company provides email and document classification, accidental send prevention, email and file protection, secure online collaboration and audit and compliance reporting. Its software is used by over 2,000 enterprise organizations and governments around the globe.

The company’s AI-powered platform enables users to control and secure the data they share in line with evolving compliance regulations, including GDPR, the NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation (23 NYCRR 500), and the recently-passed California Consumer Privacy Act. Since raising $3.6 million in Series A funding in February 2014, Egress has grown ARR by 9x, acquired over 2,000 customers and now supports more than five million users globally.

Egress customer, the State of Delaware, has been using the technology to help protect highly sensitive data and manage compliance. “As a regulated US Government State Agency, we recognized the importance of selecting a best-of-breed security partner,” explained Director of Network Engineering Mark Cabry. “Egress understands our complex business requirements and their technical innovation has helped us to maintain privacy and mitigate risk when sharing data across and outside government, leading us to deploy the service state-wide. It is therefore of little surprise that Egress is continuing to gain significant traction throughout the US market.”

Tony Pepper, CEO and co-founder of Egress, commented on the announcement: “Today’s heightened security threats, combined with an increasingly complex regulatory landscape, means that organizations face considerable risk from data breaches, resulting in reputational damage and significant financial loss. At Egress, we help businesses mitigate this risk by wrapping security around the user and managing their experience using machine learning and AI. This risk-based approach helps users avoid potential mistakes, such as sending information to the wrong recipients, and provides security administrators with insight into behavioral anomalies across the business.”

“We are delighted to be partnering with FTV as we enter the next phase of our development,” Pepper continued. “A prominent growth equity firm with an impressive track record of helping similar companies in our space to scale rapidly, FTV will bring invaluable strategic expertise to help expand our technical capabilities and business operations into new markets and geographies.”

“The need for comprehensive data security systems that help prevent data breaches and maintain compliance has become one of the key strategic priorities for businesses globally,” stated Griswold. “Egress’ user-centric strategy, combined with their use of AI-driven technical innovation, is helping to tackle these challenges head on. Their success in highly regulated markets is evidenced by their rapid growth and exceptional customer retention rates, which make them an ideal partner for FTV and an attractive solution for the financial institutions in our Global Partner Network.”

“By partnering with Egress at this point in their journey, FTV will offer strategic support and guidance designed to accelerate growth and capitalize on what is a significant market opportunity, in addition to commercial introductions to our Global Partner Network enterprises,” Griswold concluded.

Ed Lascelles, partner at AlbionVC, commented: “We look forward to supporting Egress as it enters the next stage of expansion. We have witnessed first-hand how the business has built out an enterprise-grade data security platform from a niche point solution, while growing into new verticals and geographies during the period. The demand for enhanced data security is only going to increase and so we remain excited about the team’s ability to continue delivering rapid growth.”