Data Security Firm CloudLock Raises $8.7 Million in Funding

Software as a service (SaaS) security firm CloudLock announced it has raised $8.7 million in a Series B funding round with new investor Ascent Venture Partners and previous investor Cedar Fund, both of which are located in the Boston area. Luke Burns, a partner with Ascent Venture, will join the board of directors for CloudLock, whose “core competency” — in its own words — is cloud data security services.

“Organizations moving sensitive data to the cloud are realizing the shift requires new processes for IT control,” said Burns in a prepared statement. “Increased collaboration is a major benefit of the cloud, but companies lose sight and control of the data being shared, both internally and externally. By helping secure Google Apps and other collaborative cloud-based applications, CloudLock is bridging a critical, emerging security gap.”

CloudLock’s current “Security as a Service” production platform runs on Google Apps. CloudLock offers the ability for customers to control their web domain’s Google Docs and sites and audit-sharing permissions, create enforceable use policies, produce compliance reports, monitor access rights and receive security alerts. The service also provides compliance reporting and e-Discovery for Google Docs.

When asked about his company’s goals with the VC funding, CloudLock CEO and co-founder Gil Zimmermann noted:

“Basically it’s to continue to fund the expanded growth opportunities that we have ahead of us. There are additional markets (we’re looking at). We’ll continue to invest in innovation around our core product like we have over the past couple years. We want to extend to international markets where governments and other organizations are going cloud and we don’t have as big a presence yet, and also expand into other platforms.”

CloudLock also plans to enlarge its workforce at its new headquarters in Waltham, Mass.

In a prepared statement, Zimmermann noted CloudLock is “seeing more than double the volume of sales in 2012,” after rebranding in January 2011 to its current name and focusing its business model on strictly cloud-based security services. The company added hundreds of large customers with currently more than 1 million users to its services, Zimmermann said, adding, “We’re installed in over 2,000 domains,” and its work with VARs and resellers is “gaining traction.”

Channel partners can click here to learn more about CloudLock’s partner program.