A cash infusion has brought two-year-old Dallas IT software startup Island’s total funding to over $285 million.
The new $60 million investment, led by Toronto-based fintech company Georgian, reaffirms Island’s $1.3 billion valuation and unicorn status, according to the company.
Georgian’s support is an extension of Island’s previous financing round led by Insight Partners, a New York-based global venture capital and private equity firm. It previously announced in March that it had raised $115 million in the funding round. In July, Cisco Investments put $10 million into the company.
The startup, founded in 2020, spent two years building its browser product and emerged from stealth mode in February with $100 million in funding.
It’s one of 22 Texas startups with valuations exceeding $1 billion, according to tracking site Crunchbase.
Island’s main product, its Enterprise Browser, lets companies have control over how users, such as employees, interact with cloud-based software and web applications for added security. For example, a company’s IT department could use the browser to prevent copying and pasting on its site or block screen capturing.
The browser is built on the same open-source project that powers Google’s Chrome, which the company says makes it familiar to users.
Georgian will also use its expertise in data science to help Island’s growth. Georgian’s mission is to “identify and accelerate the best growth-stage software companies,” according to its website.
Steve Leightell, lead investor at Georgian, said some of the world’s largest companies use Island’s product to improve security and the user experience.
“Island is leading one of the biggest enterprise software replacement cycles that we’ve seen,” Leightell said.
The startup was founded by CEO Mike Fey, who previously worked in executive roles at security software company Symantec (now called NortonLifeLock and headquartered in Tempe, Ariz.) and in the McAfee division of Intel’s security arm, and CTO Dan Amiga, who was founder and CTO of Israeli enterprise cybersecurity company Fireglass.
The new investment adds to the company’s “considerable war chest,” Fey said.
“The market adoption of our technology has been exciting, and being able to further validate our valuation, even with the headwinds facing the broader market, is an honor,” he said.
