13 private tech companies have cumulatively raised over $500M without telling the public what it is they do.
We used CB Insights data to identify today’s well-capitalized stealth tech companies and found 13 which have each raised over $15M. Not surprisingly, of the 13 companies, 9 had founding teams that previously were founders or CEOs of startups which had already exited or had some level of success. On the investor side, Accel Partners has backed 4 of the 13 including Jet.com, NextBit Systems, Primary Data, and Jut, while Lightspeed Venture Partners is the only other VC with multiple portfolio companies from our list, sharing Primary Data and Jut with Accel.
| Rank | Company | Area of Focus | Total Funding ($M) | Founder(s) Pedigree | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soft Machines | Chips & Semiconductors | 96 | Former Intel. Registered 30 microchip tech patents | ||
| 2 | Jet.com | eCommerce | 80 | Founded Diapers.com. Sold to Amazon for $545M | ||
| 3 | Vessel | Digital Video | 75 | Founding CEO and CTO at Hulu | ||
| 4 | Primary Data | IT Infrastructure & Data Storage | 60 | Founded Fusion-io. IPO at $1.48B valuation | ||
| 5 | Illumio | Cloud Security | 42 | Seed investor in Powermat + Tory Burch | ||
| 6 | Rubicon Media | Media | 26 | Founded Betable | ||
| 7 | Qumulo | IT Services | 25 | Founded Corensic. Former Isilon Systems | ||
| 8 | Tyto Life | Internet of Things | 23 | Former SVP Nokia, VP Apple | ||
| 9 | Layer3 TV | New Media/Cable Provider | 21 | GP Genovation Capital, Former CTO Comcast Cable | ||
| 10 | Jut | Data Analytics | 20 | Founded Riverbed Technology | ||
| 10 | CNEX Labs | Big Data | 20 | Former Marvell & Huawei | ||
| 12 | NextBit Systems | Mobile data storage | 18 | Founded 3LM. Former: Android, EIR at Accel Partners | ||
| 13 | ProtectWise | Network security | 17 | Founded MX Logic (acquired by McAfee) | ||
| *Only companies that have raised financing since 2012 and that remain in stealth mode as of Sept 30th, 2014 were included | ||||||
Photo credit: Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III // Wikipedia
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