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- Expel
Expel Revenue, Valuation, Funding & Investors
Expel is valued at $1B as of November 2021, a 10.0x multiple on its last reported $100M revenue.
Last Expel valuation
$1B
Series E · Nov 2021
Last Expel funding round
$31M
Series E · Oct 2022
Expel revenue
$100M
Series E · Nov 2021
Key investors in Expel
Paladin Capital Group
Greycroft
Battery Ventures
Scale Venture Partners
Index Ventures
New Enterprise Associates
About Expel
Expel is a Herndon, Virginia-based managed detection and response provider serving enterprises with 24/7 threat monitoring across cloud, endpoints, and networks. Its platform detects incidents like ransomware, phishing, and supply chain attacks using AI alongside human analysts. Clients access the Workbench interface for live investigations into business email compromise and application compromises. Expel integrates with tools like Splunk and CrowdStrike, supporting over 100 customers including financial firms. Founded in 2015, it operates SOCs in the U.S. and Europe with ISO 27001 certification.
Founded
2016
HQ
Website
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Services, Subscription
Revenue
$100M (Nov 2021)
Valuation
$1B (Nov 2021)
Expel Valuation
Expel is currently valued at $1B, based on its Series E in November 2021.
The $140M round was led by CapitalG and Paladin Capital Group, with participation from Index Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, March Capital, Cisco Investments, Greycroft and 1 other investor.
Expel valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2021 | Series E | $1B | 10.0x |
Expel Revenue
Expel's latest recorded revenue is $100M, as of its Series E in November 2021. At a $1B valuation, that implies a 10.0x revenue multiple.
Expel revenue by funding round
| Date | Revenue * | Valuation | Revenue Multiple | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2021 | $100M | $1B | 10.0x | Series E |
* Revenue (or ARR) figures are the values recorded alongside each funding round. Typically run-rate revenue at the time of the deal, or a reported LTM (last 12 months) revenue.
Expel Funding History
Expel has raised a total of $289M across 6 funding rounds.
Expel's first fundraising round was a $8M Series A in September 2016. The most recent completed round was a $31M Series E in October 2022.
Expel funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2022 | Series E | CapitalG (lead); Paladin Capital Group (lead); Index Ventures; Scale Venture Partners; March Capital; Battery Ventures | $31M | - | Expel is a managed detection and response (MDR) cybersecurity platform founded in 2016 that provides 24/7 security monitoring and response for cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments. The company uses API-based connections rather than agents to deliver security operations center (SOC) capabilities, enabling rapid deployment within hours while allowing internal teams to focus on strategic priorities. Expel's customers have included DoorDash and Virgin Atlantic. In November 2021, Expel closed a Series E funding round led by CapitalG and Paladin Capital Group, raising $140.3 million and achieving a post-money valuation exceeding $1 billion. The company followed this with an additional $31 million in funding less than a year later (early 2022), which CEO Dave Merkel indicated would fuel international expansion into the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, and the Netherlands while providing financial cushion amid economic uncertainty. The company slowed its hiring pace in 2022 to prepare for potential economic headwinds. In terms of growth, Expel demonstrated exceptional revenue trajectory, with 710% revenue growth from fiscal year 2018 to 2021, which earned the company recognition as the 18th fastest-growing company in North America on the 2021 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list. The company maintained its growth momentum, ranking 213th on the 2022 Deloitte list with 710% growth and later ranking 266th on the 2023 list with 511% revenue growth, demonstrating sustained but moderating expansion across three consecutive years of recognition. |
| Nov 2021 | Series E | CapitalG (lead); Paladin Capital Group (lead); Index Ventures; Scale Venture Partners; March Capital; Cisco Investments; Greycroft; Burda Principal Investments | $140M | $1B | Expel is a managed detection and response (MDR) provider offering 24/7 cybersecurity coverage for cloud applications, infrastructure, networks, and endpoints. The platform uses customer security signals, automation, and analyst expertise to detect threats, filter false positives, prioritize issues, and perform remediation, adapting to each customer's environment to close coverage gaps. Notable customers include DoorDash, Virgin Atlantic, Delta Air Lines, and Hogan Lovells. On November 18, 2021, Expel raised $140.3 million in a Series E round co-led by CapitalG (Alphabet's growth fund, prior Series D lead) and Paladin Capital Group (Series A lead), with participation from Cisco Investments, March Capital, Greycroft, Index Ventures, and Scale Venture Partners. This brought total funding to $257.8-$257.9 million and propelled the post-money valuation over $1 billion, achieving unicorn status. Funds will support product R&D, new capabilities, sales and go-to-market expansion, partner relationships, international growth, and business operations. Around the round, Expel highlighted operational scaling: handling an 82% increase in daily security events, doubling technology partners, more than doubling security investigations, and boosting analyst effectiveness by 260% via automation, while maintaining 80+ NPS. It was recognized as a Leader in Forrester Wave MDR Q1 2021 and IDC MarketScape 2021. Days later, Expel ranked 18th on Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for 12,858% revenue growth from FY2017 to FY2020. |
| May 2020 | Series D | CapitalG (lead); Index Ventures; Scale Venture Partners; Battery Ventures; Greycroft; Paladin Capital Group | $50M | - | - |
| Jun 2019 | Series C | Index Ventures (lead); New Enterprise Associates; Scale Venture Partners; Battery Ventures; Greycroft; Paladin Capital Group | $40M | - | Expel is a managed detection and response (MDR) provider offering 24x7 security coverage for cloud applications, infrastructure, networks, and endpoints, adapting to customer environments with automation to accelerate response times. The company raised $40 million in a Series D round in July 2019 led by Index Ventures, with participation from Battery Ventures, Greycroft, New Enterprise Associates, Paladin Capital Group, and Scale Venture Partners. Prior rounds included a $20M Series C in April 2018 (Battery Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Paladin) and a $7.5M round in September 2016. Later, Expel raised $140.3 million in a Series E round on November 18, 2021, co-led by CapitalG and Paladin Capital Group, achieving a valuation over $1 billion and bringing total funding to approximately $257-258 million. This unicorn status followed significant operational scaling, including 260% improved analyst effectiveness via automation and an 80+ NPS rating. The company focused on product R&D, sales expansion, international growth, and partner relationships post-Series E. |
| Apr 2018 | Series B | Scale Venture Partners (lead); Lightbank; New Enterprise Associates; Battery Ventures; Greycroft; Paladin Capital Group; Profile Capital | $20M | - | Expel is a managed detection and response (MDR) cybersecurity company founded in 2016 that provides 24x7 coverage for cloud applications, infrastructure, networks, and endpoints, using an automation-forward approach to detect gaps, accelerate responses, and scale quality while replacing traditional managed security service providers (MSSPs). On April 10, 2018, Expel announced $20 million in Series B funding led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Battery Ventures, Greycroft, Lightbank, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Paladin Capital Group, and Profile Capital Management, bringing total funding to $27.5 million at that time. The funding aimed to address MSSP shortcomings like alert overload, enabling CISOs to focus on decisions and risk management rather than chasing alerts. Later developments include a Series E round in November 2021 raising $140.3 million co-led by CapitalG and Paladin Capital Group, achieving over $1 billion valuation and unicorn status, with total funding reaching approximately $257.8-257.9 million. Expel reported exceptional growth, ranking 18th on the 2021 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 with 12,858% revenue growth from FY2017 to FY2020, 511% growth in 2023 (ranking 266), and 338% in 2024 (ranking 343). Traction metrics highlight Expel's progress post-2018: surpassing $100 million in annual recurring revenue as of FY24, 50% year-over-year revenue growth from FY23 to FY24, industry-leading Net Promoter Score of 75, and 20-minute mean-time-to-remediate on critical alerts. The company expanded offerings, earned IDC MarketScape leadership in emerging MDR services, launched flexible MDR products, grew international presence including 50 jobs in Ireland, and doubled platform capacity, technology partners, and investigations handled. |
| Sep 2016 | Series A | Paladin Capital Group (lead); Lightbank; New Enterprise Associates; Battery Ventures; Dave Merkel; Greycroft | $8M | - | Expel is a managed detection and response (MDR) provider founded in 2016 that offers SOC-as-a-service, leveraging customers' existing security technologies for 24/7 threat detection across cloud, on-prem, SaaS, and endpoints. Paladin Capital Group led Expel's Series A round in 2016. Subsequent rounds include $40 million Series C in June 2019 led by Index Ventures with participation from Battery Ventures, Greycroft, NEA, Paladin Capital Group, and Scale Venture Partners, bringing total funding to $67.5 million at that time. In May 2020, Expel raised $50 million in Series D led by CapitalG, with Battery Ventures, Greycroft, Index Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, and Scale Venture Partners participating, for a total of $117.5 million raised since inception. The company later achieved unicorn status with $140.3 million Series E in November 2021 co-led by CapitalG and Paladin Capital Group, valuing it over $1 billion post-money and bringing total funding to $257.9 million, with further extension to $171.3 million in 2022 for $288.8 million total. |
Who has invested in Expel?
13 investors have backed Expel across its funding rounds, including Paladin Capital Group, Greycroft, Battery Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Index Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.
Lead investors include CapitalG, Paladin Capital Group, Index Ventures and Scale Venture Partners.
Expel Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Lead | Sep 2016 | ||
| 5 | Lead | Apr 2018 | ||
| 5 | Participant | Sep 2016 | ||
| 5 | Participant | Sep 2016 | ||
| 4 | Lead | Jun 2019 | ||
| 3 | Participant | Sep 2016 | ||
| 3 | Lead | May 2020 | ||
| 2 | Participant | Sep 2016 | ||
| 2 | Participant | Nov 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Sep 2016 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Nov 2021 | ||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 13 Expel investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
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Start Free TrialExpel Competitors
Expel competitors include listed companies like NSFOCUS and Rapid7, and private ones like Aikido Security, Aqua Security, BigID and BlueVoyant.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | $13M | - | $1B | 76.9x | ||
| Private | - | - | $1B | - | ||
| Private | $100M | - | $1B | 10.0x | ||
| Private | - | - | $1B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $379M | $37M | $955M | 2.4x | ||
| Publicly listed | $860M | $63M | $836M | 1.3x |
Expel Public Comps
Expel is still privately-owned, but its public comps include NSFOCUS, BeiJing Certificate, Yubico, Rapid7, Riskified, Asiainfo Security, Mitek Systems, Eastcompeace Tech, Red Violet and CANCOM.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $379M | $37M | 2.6x | 2.4x | 26.1x | 25.6x | |||
| $125M | ($12M) | 6.7x | - | (70.9x) | - | |||
| $226M | $19M | 3.3x | 3.2x | 39.7x | 25.6x | |||
| $860M | $63M | 1.3x | 1.3x | 17.4x | 6.8x | |||
| $345M | ($31M) | 1.8x | 1.6x | (20.3x) | 19.0x | |||
| $1.2B | ($11M) | 1.2x | 1.1x | (126.2x) | 339.7x | |||
| $180M | $37M | 4.1x | 3.7x | 19.9x | 11.2x | |||
| $197M | $26M | 4.8x | - | 36.4x | - | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Expel competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about Expel
| When was Expel founded? | Expel was founded in 2016. |
| Where is Expel headquartered? | Expel is headquartered in Washington, DC, United States. |
| Is Expel publicly listed? | No, Expel is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is Expel's valuation? | Expel was last valued at $1B in its Series E in November 2021. |
| How much funding has Expel raised? | Expel has raised $289M across 6 funding rounds. |
| What was Expel's last funding round? | Expel's last funding round was a $31M Series E in October 2022, led by CapitalG and Paladin Capital Group. |
| Who are Expel's investors? | Expel's investors include Paladin Capital Group, Scale Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, Greycroft, Index Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, CapitalG, Lightbank, March Capital, Dave Merkel and 3 others. |
| What is Expel's revenue? | Expel's latest recorded revenue is $100M (November 2021). |
| What is Expel's revenue multiple? | Expel's latest valuation implies a 10.0x revenue multiple ($1B valuation on $100M of revenue). |
| Which companies are comparable to Expel? | Companies comparable to Expel include Aikido Security, Aqua Security, BigID, BlueVoyant, NSFOCUS and Rapid7. |
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