Israeli cloud security firm Orca Security said on Tuesday it had extended its Series C funding round to $ 550 million, increasing the company’s valuation by 50% to $ 1.8 billion in just seven months .

The company has raised $ 340 million to build on a $ 210 million investment, which was raised in March and led by CapitalG (the growth fund of Google’s parent company, Alphabet) and Redpoint Ventures.

The new round of funding was led by Singapore-based investment firm Temasek with substantial participation from venture capitalists CapitalG, Redpoint Ventures, GGV, ICONIQ Capital, Lone Pine Capital, Stripes, Adams Street Partners, Willoughby Capital and Harmony Partners.

Orca Security said it would leverage Temasek’s investment portfolio and global network to enter the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and beyond, and key industries such as telecommunications, financial services, transport, consumer goods, etc. The startup said it plans to have more than a dozen employees in the APAC region by the end of this year.

Founded at Orca Security was founded in 2019 by former Check Point Software CTO Avi Shua and former Check Point Executive Gil Geron. The startup claims to have created the first and only cloud security solution capable of detecting vulnerabilities, malware, configuration errors, weak and leaked passwords, lateral movement risks and high risk data without agents. or integrations per asset, in minutes.

“Customers are fed up with agent-based tools that claim run-time protection, but are de facto a gimmick, typically reach only a fraction of the environment, and don’t provide the context they want. security teams desperately need to prioritize critical alerts, ”said Orca Security CEO and co-founder Avi Shua,

“Our growth is exploding because Orca Security just works. We offer rapid agentless deployment, 100% coverage of all cloud assets, and automatic prioritization of alerts that require rapid action.

In addition, the company has set its sights on the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, as it prepares to open a physical office in London, including a new R&D center, this is the first in outside of its Tel Aviv base. Orca Security plans to install around 20 employees in London by the end of 2021.