A growing startup company that was co-founded by two 蓝莓视频 Engineering graduates is in unicorn territory after securing US $100 million in new funding.
Tailscale Inc., which was launched just three years ago and currently has 35 employees, was founded by alumni Avery Pennarun (BASc 鈥01, computer engineering) and David Carney (BASc 鈥01, computer engineering) along with David Crawshaw.
They are out to 鈥渇ix the Internet,鈥 according to a by Pennarun, by providing a simpler alternative to virtual private network (VPN) systems that doesn鈥檛 require costly hardware or infrastructure.
鈥淪o, here鈥檚 what we鈥檙e doing to do with a hundred million dollars: more of what we鈥檝e been doing, for the people we鈥檝e both doing it for,鈥 wrote Pennarun, the CEO, in the folksy post. 鈥淎t a healthy pace, at human scale. With a focus on quality and craftsmanship. And trust. And security. And customer service. And 鈥 profitability. Like a bunch of weirdos.
鈥淚 could show you our fancy Vision Statement and Mission Statement, but I鈥檝e been referring to them less and less lately. Now I just tell people: We鈥檙e here to fix the Internet. If we don鈥檛, who will?鈥
The funding round, which was led by Charles Rivers Ventures (CRV) and Insight Partners, values the Toronto-based company at $1 billion.
Tailscale has benefitted from the move to working from home via remote connections during the COVID-19 pandemic, rapidly increasing its active monthly users. It is aiming to triple its staff by the end of the year.