Cybersecurity startup Illumio raises $225 million, valued at about $2.8 billion

(Reuters) - Illumio said on Thursday it raised $225 million in a funding round led by private equity firm Thoma Bravo that valued the cybersecurity startup at $2.75 billion.

The pandemic has driven up venture capital investments into the cybersecurity space, as businesses increasingly turn to firms like Illumio to tackle the digital security challenges brought on by their shift to remote work.

Illumio, which helps companies protect their digital operations from breaches and compromises, serves customers including enterprise software company Salesforce.Com Inc and financial institutions Morgan Stanley and Bank of England.

Corporate America has recorded a flurry of cybersecurity breaches of late that have also impacted government agencies, including attacks against major fuel transport company Colonial Pipeline and software firm SolarWinds Inc.

In response, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order in May to improve the country's cybersecurity and called for the private sector to work with the federal government. Part of the order entailed the government moving toward a "zero trust" strategy and architecture in cybersecurity. (https://bit.ly/2SQaqIb)

"Zero trust" assumes no trust across networks, devices or users, and demands constant real-time authentication to prevent breaches.

"Adopting Zero Trust strategies has never been more important for organizations across all industries, as the Biden Administration's recent cybersecurity Executive Order demonstrates," said Andrew Rubin, chief executive officer and co-founder of Illumio, which operates on the "zero trust" principle.

Apart from Thoma Bravo, Franklin Templeton, Hamilton Lane, and Blue Owl Capital also participated in the funding round.

(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru and Jane Lee; Editing by Devika Syamnath)