Lacework

Cybersecurity / cloud securityUSA

New to Unitard

🤝 Acquired

Peak $8.3 BillionToday

~-97%

from peak

🦄
Became a unicorn
2021
📈
Peak valuation
$8.3 Billion ’21
💔
Became a Unitard
2024
💸
Last valuation
~$249M

Current status

Acquired by Fortinet (Aug 2024) for an estimated ~$200M — a tiny fraction of its $8.3B peak.

The rise & fall

7 moments · 2015–2024

The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.

2015

Founded

A cloud-security platform that uses machine learning to spot threats across sprawling cloud estates.

TechCrunch

2021

A $525M round crosses $1B

An early-2021 mega-round makes it one of cybersecurity's hottest unicorns.

TechCrunch

Nov 2021

The peak: $8.3B after a monster round$8.3B

Raises $1.3B in a single round — one of security's largest ever — for an $8.3B valuation.

TechCrunch

2022

Early layoffs as budgets tighten

Cloud-security spending cools, growth slows, and rivals like Wiz surge past.

TechCrunch

2022–24

From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2022–24

Glassdoor reviews charted the unraveling: employees described three layoff rounds across 2022-23, constant churn in sales compensation and territories, and a product they felt had fallen behind competitors; after the sale, some early employees said their exercised options returned nothing.

2024

A Wiz rescue falls through

Reported takeover talks with rival Wiz end without a deal.

SiliconANGLE

Aug 2024

Acquired by Fortinet for ~$200M$200M

Terms undisclosed; estimates of $150-230M put the price at a tiny fraction of the $8.3B peak.

Fortinet

💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.

How it happened

Lacework built a cloud-security platform that used machine learning to spot threats, becoming one of the boom's most valued cybersecurity startups — raising $1.3B in a single round to reach an $8.3B valuation in November 2021. As spending tightened and rivals like Wiz surged, growth slowed and it cut staff.

Fortinet acquired Lacework in August 2024 for an estimated $150-230M — a fraction of its peak, with some early employees reporting their exercised options returned nothing.

Source: Fortinet / SiliconANGLE / Sacra ($8.3B Series D Nov 2021, raised ~$2B total; Fortinet acquisition Aug 2024, terms undisclosed, estimated ~$150-230M)

Founders & leadership

Jay Parikh
CEO
Now Executive Vice President at MicrosoftLinkedIn ↗
Vikram Kapoor
co-founder & CTO
Still there — Co-Founder, CTOLinkedIn ↗
Sanjay Kalra
co-founder & chief product officer (left in 2019)
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