Upwind Raises $400M Series C at $3.8B Valuation as AI Security Demand Grows

Upwind, a cloud and AI security startup founded by Amiram Shachar, Liran Polak, Lavi Ferdman and Tal Zur, has closed a $400 million Series C funding round at a $3.8 billion valuation. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Canapi Ventures and existing investors Cyberstarts, Greylock Partners, Craft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and Picture Capital.

The San Francisco-based company develops security software that monitors cloud environments in real time, helping organisations identify vulnerabilities, understand potential threats and detect suspicious activity across cloud workloads, APIs and AI agents.

The latest financing follows Upwind's January 2026 Series B round, which valued the company at a reported $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion. Its new valuation reflects continued investor interest in cloud security as businesses adopt more AI-powered applications and increasingly complex infrastructure.

The funding will support further development of Upwind's security capabilities and its efforts to help enterprises protect cloud and AI infrastructure.

From a $450 Million Exit to a Second Startup

Amiram Shachar previously founded Spot.io, a cloud cost optimisation company acquired by NetApp for $450 million in 2020.

The idea for Spot.io emerged after Shachar experienced rising hosting costs while working at Ybrant Digital. He saw an opportunity to develop software that could move workloads to cheaper, underutilised server capacity.

Shachar recruited his former army colleague Liran Polak to build the business. Lavi Ferdman, another former member of the IDF's Mamram unit, also joined the team.

In 2022, Shachar, Polak, Ferdman and Tal Zur, one of Spot.io's original engineers, founded Upwind. According to the source report, nearly all of Spot.io's 60 employees joined the new venture.

By January 2026, Upwind reportedly had more than 300 employees and offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel.

The founders brought experience in cloud infrastructure into a different market challenge: helping security teams understand risks across modern cloud environments and applications powered by AI.

What Upwind's Security Platform Does

Enterprise security teams often face large volumes of alerts generated by vulnerabilities, cloud workloads and connected applications. Identifying which issues pose the greatest risks can be difficult when security signals are spread across different systems.

Upwind aims to address this challenge by monitoring cloud environments in real time rather than relying exclusively on periodic scans.

Its platform brings cloud workloads, APIs and AI agents into a unified view, helping security teams understand how systems interact and investigate suspicious activity.

For example, if an AI agent accesses data it should not, Upwind says its tools can help identify what was accessed and trace the activity back to the relevant code.

This capability is increasingly relevant as organisations introduce AI agents into business processes. These agents can interact with applications, access information and execute tasks, creating new security considerations for companies responsible for protecting sensitive data and cloud infrastructure.

Upwind's approach focuses on combining real-time monitoring with contextual information so security teams can prioritise exposures, investigate threats and respond more proactively.

Enterprise Customers and Cloud Integrations

Upwind says hundreds of organisations use its platform, including Siemens, Roku, Carvana, Nubank, Supabase and ClickUp.

The company works with major cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Oracle Cloud. Customers can also purchase the platform through the AWS console with unified billing.

These integrations allow Upwind to serve organisations operating across different cloud environments. For enterprise customers, security products must fit existing infrastructure and provide actionable information without creating additional operational complexity.

The company competes with established cybersecurity providers such as Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike, as well as cloud security specialist Wiz. Google completed its acquisition of Wiz for $32 billion, according to the source article.

The competitive landscape puts pressure on security startups to demonstrate strong technical capabilities, enterprise adoption and sustained revenue growth.

Revenue Growth and a $3.8 Billion Valuation

Upwind's latest funding round comes amid reports of substantial revenue growth.

The company claims it quadrupled its revenue in 2026. Separately, The Information reported that its annual recurring revenue increased from approximately $20 million at the end of 2025 to more than $50 million.

Using the reported figure of $50 million in annual recurring revenue, the company's $3.8 billion valuation represents approximately 76 times ARR.

This is a substantial valuation multiple, placing significant importance on Upwind's ability to sustain growth and expand its enterprise customer base. The calculation uses the reported valuation and ARR figures; it is not a measure of profitability.

ARR represents the annualised value of recurring customer contracts and should not automatically be treated as equivalent to revenue recognised during a financial reporting period.

The available source does not provide detailed figures for profitability, cash flow or customer acquisition costs, so these cannot be assessed from the announcement alone.

Investors Back Upwind's Next Phase

Bessemer Venture Partners led the Series C, joined by Canapi Ventures and existing investors Cyberstarts, Greylock Partners, Craft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and Picture Capital.

The round follows Upwind's January 2026 financing at a reported valuation of $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion. The new $3.8 billion valuation represents a significant increase within the year.

The investment arrives as enterprises introduce more AI-powered applications and agents alongside existing cloud workloads. These systems create additional interactions between software, infrastructure and data, increasing the importance of understanding security risks in real time.

Upwind plans to use the new capital to accelerate its product capabilities and continue developing tools for securing cloud and AI infrastructure.

A Reported Acquisition Offer Adds Another Dimension

The funding announcement also follows a report from The Information that Datadog made an offer of nearly $4 billion for Upwind earlier in October 2026. According to the source article, Upwind rejected the proposal.

The reported offer was only slightly above the company's new $3.8 billion funding valuation. However, the terms and circumstances of the proposal are not fully detailed in the provided source.

A strategic acquisition offer and a venture funding round are different transactions, with potentially different structures, conditions and objectives. The reported offer does not establish what Upwind would be worth in a completed acquisition.

For now, the company has secured additional capital to continue growing independently.

What Comes Next for Upwind?

Upwind's next challenge is to turn growing demand for cloud and AI security into sustained commercial performance.

The company has raised substantial capital, reported more than $50 million in annual recurring revenue and established relationships with enterprise customers across multiple industries. Its latest valuation reflects expectations that demand for real-time cloud security will continue to grow.

However, the company faces competition from established cybersecurity providers and well-funded startups. Maintaining its growth trajectory while delivering reliable products will be important to supporting its valuation.

For Shachar, Polak, Ferdman and Zur, Upwind represents a second major entrepreneurial chapter following Shachar's $450 million Spot.io exit.

The company's progress in 2027 will depend on whether it can expand recurring revenue, deepen enterprise adoption and demonstrate that its platform can protect increasingly complex cloud environments and AI-agent workflows.