Egress Software promises more London jobs with $40m series C fundraise

Egress Software, a London-headquartered provider of data privacy and compliance software, will today reveal the close of a $40m (£31.7m) series C fundraising round led by US investor FTV Capital.

Existing backer Albion Capital also participated in the round.

The funding comes as a significant leap from Egress’ last raise, which saw the startup take in £3m from Albion to build a framework of its US office.

Chief executive Tony Pepper told City A.M. the business had gone through rapid growth since it first took on venture funding in 2014, but that now was the time for Egress to push for more.

“We felt this was definitely the time to put the foot on the gas, reach out to the investor community and take a slightly more aggressive approach,” said Pepper.

“Businesses often raise too much at an inappropriate time. But now with worldwide regulation at an all-time high, not just with GDPR but also throughout the US, there’s a [need for us] to go much, much faster.”

Pepper said there’s “massive growth” for Egress still to be done in the UK, with “an enormous amount of investment” being dedicated to its home country.

While the firm has taken on an average of one person per week over the last 12 to 18 months, he expects this to ramp up signficantly. For example its headquarters in Old Street will add another 30 or 40 staff over the next two years, in addition to the 90 or so already based there.

Though Brexit has often been a cause for concern in future tech hiring, Pepper said there are “definitely no worries” for Egress to achieve its goals.