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Data Startup Cribl Valued at $3.5 Billion in New Funding Round

Fiber optic cables feed into a switch inside a communications room at an office in London, U.K., on Monday, May 21, 2018. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport will work with the Home Office to publish a white paper later this year setting out legislation, according to a statement, which will also seek to force tech giants to reveal how they target abusive and illegal online material posted by users. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg (Jason Alden/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Data infrastructure startup Cribl Inc. has raised a new funding round bringing its valuation to $3.5 billion, an unusually high number for a company not focused exclusively on AI in the current fundraising climate. 

The 700-person company, which organizes companies’ data for IT and security teams, raised $200 million in capital alongside a $119 million secondary offering, said co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Clint Sharp. Cribl has now raised $600 million since it was founded in 2018. 

GV, formerly Google Ventures, led the investment, with participation from GIC, CapitalG, IVP and CRV. Michael McBride, general partner at GV, will take a board seat.

McBride said he invested because he believes Cribl can “define an entire category,” calling it “one of the fastest growing infrastructure companies of our time.” Cribl claims a quarter of the Fortune 500 as corporate customers, and said it surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue in October of last year. 

While most companies raising large funding rounds these days are focused on artificial intelligence, Sharp said he’s finding that corporate clients are interested in services beyond just AI. “There’s a lot of AI fatigue,” he said, pointing to a “disconnect between what happens in Silicon Valley” and customer needs in corporate America.

It’s not that companies are against AI, but “they have more pressing problems that are sitting right in front of them,” Sharp said. “They don’t care that it is AI. They care that they need help.”

Sharp said that the company’s goal is to be cash flow-positive by 2025.

Max Gazor, general partner at CRV, said Cribl has a large market opportunity, and that he believes Sharp has grit. “If he does not build a generationally large company I think he will be disappointed,” Gazor said. Gazor also said he thinks Cribl is “definitely” on a path toward an IPO. 

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