Introduction
Netskope builds cloud-native security software that inspects and controls how employees access cloud applications and data, positioning itself as an alternative to routing that traffic through legacy, on-premises security appliances. Sanjay Beri, who serves as CEO, co-founded the company in Santa Clara, California, in 2012 together with Krishna Narayanaswamy, Lebin Cheng, and Ravi Ithal, with Beri and Narayanaswamy having worked together since 2006.
After thirteen years as a private, venture-backed company, Netskope completed its initial public offering in September 2025, becoming one of the few notable cybersecurity IPOs of that period. For readers of Brel’s AI in cybersecurity coverage, Netskope’s public debut, and its explicit framing of the business around “the world is moving to AI and cloud,” make it a useful, freshly priced benchmark for how public markets currently value AI-and-data-focused security platforms.
What the company does
Netskope’s core platform, Netskope One, combines the functions generally described in the industry as security service edge (SSE) — secure web gateway, cloud access security broker, and zero trust network access — into a single cloud-delivered service, alongside data-loss-prevention and, increasingly, controls over which generative-AI tools employees are permitted to use and what data they can share with them.
Who it serves
Netskope sells to large enterprises seeking to secure cloud application and data usage across a distributed workforce, competing for the same secure-access budgets pursued by Palo Alto Networks, Broadcom, and Cisco. CEO Sanjay Beri has said publicly that Netskope’s goal is not to become a one-stop cybersecurity shop covering every security category, but to remain focused on the specific intersection of data, network, and AI-usage security.
Company background
Netskope was founded in Santa Clara, California, in 2012. Lightspeed Venture Partners became its earliest major institutional investor, leading a $21 million Series B round in 2013 and ultimately building a stake that stood at 19.3% at the time of Netskope’s IPO; ICONIQ Growth (19.2%) and Accel (roughly 9%) were also major shareholders. The company raised a $300 million Series H round in 2021 at a $7.5 billion valuation and took on a $401 million convertible note in 2023 as it continued scaling ahead of an eventual public listing. Netskope filed publicly for its IPO in August 2025 and completed its Nasdaq debut under ticker NTSK on September 18, 2025, pricing shares at $19 and closing its first trading day up 18% at an approximately $8.6 billion market capitalization, an offering CEO Sanjay Beri said was more than 20 times oversubscribed.
Product and AI capabilities
Netskope frames its AI relevance around two related capabilities: helping organizations discover and control which generative-AI tools and services employees are using across managed and unmanaged devices, and protecting the underlying cloud data that both employees and increasingly AI systems can reach. Beri has summarized the company’s pitch as helping customers “harness artificial intelligence tools” while still protecting sensitive data, positioning Netskope’s data-centric architecture — built originally to give security teams visibility into shadow SaaS usage — as similarly well-suited to giving them visibility into shadow AI usage.
Key developments
Netskope spent thirteen years as a private company, raising roughly $1.4 billion in venture funding across twelve rounds before its IPO, according to Forge Global’s tracking of the company’s funding history. In the six months ended in July 2025, ahead of its listing, the company reported revenue growth to $328.5 million from $251.3 million a year earlier, alongside a narrowing net loss of $169.5 million, with annual recurring revenue surpassing $700 million by the end of that period. Netskope completed its Nasdaq debut on September 18, 2025, at a valuation below its final private-market mark of $7.5 billion, reflecting a broader pattern the IPO market saw that year of well-known, venture-backed companies debuting under their peak private valuations even as their stock rose on its first trading day.
Why it matters
Netskope is one of the clearest recent data points on how public markets are currently pricing a growth-stage, not-yet-profitable cybersecurity platform whose pitch is built substantially around AI and data protection rather than a single narrower security category. Its IPO, alongside Rubrik’s the prior year, also signaled a modest reopening of the cybersecurity IPO market after several quiet years, giving Brel readers a concrete recent comparison point for how investors are valuing AI-and-cloud-security growth against sustained net losses.
Sector context
Within Brel’s AI in cybersecurity coverage, Netskope competes most directly with Palo Alto Networks and Zscaler for secure access service edge and zero trust budgets, though as the most recently public of the three, its financial disclosures offer an unusually current, detailed look at growth-versus-profitability trade-offs in the SASE category.
Sources and references
This profile draws on Netskope’s official company materials and its founder’s IPO letter, alongside independent press coverage of its public offering.
- CNBC — “Netskope soars 18% on first trading, reaches $8.6 billion market cap” (2025)
- TechCrunch — “Netskope follows Rubrik as a rare cybersecurity IPO…” (2025)
- Netskope — “The Netskope Journey” (2025)
- Forge Global — Netskope IPO overview