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Cloud security services provider Skyhigh Networks has secured $40 million (£30.9m) in a series D funding round which will aim to steer the California-based firm “through to profitability.”

The round was led by Thomset Ventures, with Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners also contributing. Total venture capital to Skyhigh, launched only in February 2013, is now at $105.5m.

Skyhigh’s proposition is through being a leading ‘cloud access security broker’ (CASB), which enables a central point of control for data stored in thousands of cloud services.  

“As the massive migration to cloud accelerates, security has become a major pain point for enterprise CISOs,” said Thomset venture partner Umesh Padval, who joins the Skyhigh board of directors. “We recognise in Skyhigh the rare combination of a massive market opportunity, technical product leadership, enviable list of customers, visionary management, and a world class team.

“Skyhigh helped pioneer the CASB market, and we look forward to working with their team as they continue to innovate and lead this space,” Padval added.

Rajiv Gupta, Skyhigh co-founder and CEO, added: “We are thrilled to have raised an up round from Thomvest, Greylock, and Sequoia, particularly in the current environment. It is a testament to the incredible work of our employees and will enable us to accelerate our growth and carry us to profitability.”

Skyhigh’s name will arguably be best recognised by long-time readers of this publication due to their research efforts. The company frequently collaborates with the Cloud Security Alliance on reports, with one of the most recent in June arguing that an IT skills shortage continues to pervade organisations, with many ‘false positive’ security instances – an alert which erroneously flags normal behaviour as malicious – contributing to more serious alerts being ignored.

According to recent analysis from Glassdoor ratings, 100% of employees approve of Skyhigh CEO Gupta, while 75% would recommend the company to a friend.