Exclusive: Cribl, data infrastructure startup, crosses $200 million in annual recurring revenue January 22, 2025 |
Clint Sharp was wearing multiple hats.
In May 2024, the CEO and cofounder of data infrastructure unicorn Cribl took on a second job as interim chief revenue officer. Sharp said he stepped in to take the CRO job because, when Cribl didn’t meet its Q1 revenue goals, it was time to change direction. As the company searched for its next CRO, Sharp stepped into those shoes—or rather, that hat.
“We do, in fact, have a cowboy hat,” Sharp told me over Zoom, which Cribl chief market officer Abby Strong confirmed.
“Oh, he’s put on the cowboy hat and walked into the room: ‘Now, I’m CRO Clint,'” she laughed, gently mimicking what Sharp’s best Clint Eastwood might sound like.
The hat’s a great accessory, but it also gestures to a very real problem—balancing two roles is tricky, especially when one of those roles is as CEO. Sometimes it’s hard to signal what “hat” you’re wearing in each conversation. On its face, a CRO job is a weedsier gig than the CEO role, one that grapples with different pressures and daily questions. For Cribl, the problem was simple, though: The company had a $200 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) goal, one that looked far away last spring, as revenue leadership was in flux.
I asked Sharp why he wanted to give himself that second job. In part, it sounds like he was open to the learning experience and that it felt right, as the company searched for the right CRO. But I also think it’s a piece of character.
Once you’ve identified a problem, Sharp tells me, it doesn’t just tend to improve as time passes. “It’s best just to go straight at solving those problems,” he said, adding: “I’m also always the person in the conference room where the screen or AV isn’t working, or people can’t get on the WiFi, and I’m crawling under the desk to help fix it.”
Sharp’s cowboy stint seems to have done the trick. Though it may have seemed unlikely eight months ago, Cribl hit the goal it set at the beginning of last year, crossing $200 million in ARR, the company exclusively told Fortune. That marks ARR growth of about 70% year-over-year. Cribl, which was founded in 2018, hit its $100 million ARR milestone in 2023. The startup—whose investors include GV, GIC, CapitalG, IVP, and CRV—was last valued at $3.5 billion in its $319 million Series E, announced in August.
To get to $200 million, the company doubled down on constructing a well-staffed, well-structured sales operation. Sharp wrestled with questions like: “To grow by 70% to 80% this year, we have to have the right number of bodies sitting in the right places…How do we allocate territories? How do we hire the right number of reps? How do they have the right number of bosses?”
“Software’s a people business,” Sharp added.
Sharp’s five months as CRO was bolstered by the fact that it was a team effort. Strong picked up some CRO-related functions, as did the company’s head of finance: “We all banded together,” Strong said. In the end, the company’s ARR growth also sprang from several spots, derived from both existing customers buying more products and from adding new customers. (The company says customers purchasing multiple Cribl products has increased 275% over the last year.) Cribl’s customer base now includes 43 members of the Fortune 100, as well as 130 members of the Fortune 500.
Cribl is among the unicorns many believe is en route to an IPO, so I asked Sharp about it directly.
“We will eventually be a public company,” Sharp told Fortune. “I think there’s no destination other than the public markets. At minimum, I’d say it’s two years away, so not near-term…We’re doing a lot of work internally to make sure we’re ready for a public offering, if market conditions get to the right spot.”
In the meantime, Sharp’s back to wearing one (official) hat. New CRO Mike Pyle—previously of Salesforce’s Heroku and GitLab—joined Cribl in September. And Sharp shed his CRO-designated jacket, replacing it with his usual founder hoodie.
But I think he might still have that cowboy hat, somewhere.
ICYMI…OpenAI, SoftBank, and several other tech companies announced plans yesterday to invest as much as $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the U.S. The announcement, presided over by President Trump, included SoftBank CEO and chairman Masayoshi Son, Oracle executive chairman Larry Ellison, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The project, which dates back to 2024 and involves an initial $100 billion investment, is called Stargate—which immediately makes me think of the ’90s and aughts TV show about alien wormhole space travel. Read more here.
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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CONTENT FROM HSBC Report: What’s ahead for the innovation ecosystem in 2025 Zoom out with an analysis of where the venture ecosystem is headed in 2025. Click to read.
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VENTURE DEALS
- Highnote, a San Francisco-based payments platform, raised $90 million in Series B funding. Adams Street Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Oak HC/FT, Costanoa, WestCap, and Pinegrove Venture Partners.
- Render, a San Francisco-based cloud for application developers, raised $80 million in Series C funding. Georgian led the round and was joined by 01A, avra, and existing investors Addition, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and the South Park Commons Fund.
- Vertice, a London-based spend optimization platform, raised $50 million in Series C funding. Lakestar led the round and was joined by Perpetual Growth, CF Private Equity, and existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and 83North.
- Package.ai, a Tel Aviv-based AI-powered customer engagement platform for big-box retailers, raised $14 million in Series A funding from Susquehanna Growth Equity.
- Qomodo, a Milan-based payments platform for physical merchants, raised €13.5 million ($14 million) in Series A funding. RTP Global and LMDV Capital led the round and were joined by Proximity Capital, Primo Capital, and others.
- Kraaft, a Paris-based messaging, document management, reporting, and workflow app for the construction industry, raised €13 million ($13.5 million) in Series A funding. Dawn Capital led the round and was joined by Brick & Mortar Ventures, Chalfen Ventures, Stride VC, and OSS Ventures.
- Gravity, a San Francisco-based carbon accounting platform for energy management, raised $13 million in Series A funding. Ansa Capital led the round and was joined by Communitas Capital, Buoyant Ventures, WEX Venture Capital, and existing investors Eclipse, Hanover, and Caffeinated Capital.
- Bedrock Energy, an Austin-based geothermal heating and cooling company, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Titanium Ventures led the round and was joined by Energy Impact Partners, Sustainable Future Ventures, and existing investors Wireframe Ventures, Overture Ventures, Toba Capital, and others.
- Belfry Software, a New York City-based platform for security providers, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Base10 Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Bienville Capital and Aglaé Ventures.
- Doti AI, a Tel Aviv-based internal knowledge enterprise AI platform, raised $7 million in seed funding. F2 Venture Capital led the round and was joined by angel investors.
- Matchory, a Munich-based procurement and supply chain technology company, raised €6 million ($6.3 million) in funding. Capmont led the round and was joined by existing investor Earlybird-X and angel investors.
- Addis Energy, a Somerville, Mass.-based ammonia production technology developer, raised $4.3 million in pre-seed funding from Engine Ventures, Pillar VC, and Voyager Ventures.
- Egal, a Somerville, Mass.-based accessible period solutions provider for public restrooms, raised $4 million in Series A funding. Bauer Family Office’s Technology for Humanity led the round and was joined by Slater Technology Fund, Catalytic Impact Foundation, Princeton Alumni Angels, and others.
- Qumis, a Chicago-based AI-powered insurance knowledge platform, raised $2.2 million in pre-seed funding. Armory Square Ventures led the round and was joined by MTech Capital, Grand Ventures, Alumni Ventures, BrokerTech Ventures, and others.
- Glue, a Seattle-based product testing technology developer, raised $2 million in pre-seed funding. Fortive led the round and was joined by Pioneer Square Ventures and the AIStudio Fund.
- IntelliProve, a Ghent, Belgium-based health solutions provider, raised €1.25 million ($1.3 million) in funding from Miles Ahead, Jeroen De Wit, Louis Jonckheere, existing investors The White and Yellow Cross, imec.istart fund, angel investors, and others.
- SONEX, a Singapore-based decentralized exchange in the Soneium ecosystem, raised $1 million in seed funding. Outliers Fund co-led the round and was joined by Baboon VC, Taisu Ventures, Nonagon Capital, and others.
- Kaya AI, a Columbus-based advanced construction supply chain intelligence platform, raised $5.3 million in pre-seed funding. 53 Stations, Suffolk Technologies, and Soma Capital led the round and were joined by Zeal Capital Partners, RXR, Mantis VC, Virta Ventures, and others.
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PRIVATE EQUITY
- Astorg agreed to acquire the medical media business unit of FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based cell culture solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Burnout Brands, a portfolio company of Hidden Harbor Capital Partners, acquired D&J Precision Machine, a Cambridge, Ohio-based precision machining services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- PrimeSource Brands, backed by Clearlake Capital Group, acquired Keylink, a New Holland, Pa.-based aluminum railing systems provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Talon, a portfolio company of Equistone Partners Europe, acquired Out of Home Masters, an Amsterdam-based advertising agency. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- TIMETOACT GROUP, a portfolio company of Equistone Partners Europe, acquired beBOLD, a Hamburg, Germany-based cloud-transformation consulting firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Tropolis, a portfolio company of Unity Partners, acquired BDMH Insurance Services, a Chicago-based nursing and senior living-focused insurance provider; Follmer Insurance Services, a Brighton, Mich.-based commercial and personal insurance provider; Madigan Pingatore Insurance Agency, a Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.-based hospitality and commercial insurance provider; and R&A Insurance, a Shelby Township, Mich.-based commercial and personal insurance provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
- Circle Internet Group acquired Hashnote, a Miami-based tokenized money market fund. Financial terms were not disclosed.
IPOS
- Smithfield Foods, a Smithfield, Va.-based meat products producer, plans to raise $936.6 million in an offering of 34.8 million shares (50% secondary) priced between $23 and $27 on the Nasdaq. The company posted $14.2 billion in sales for the year ending Sept. 30, 2024. SFDS UK Holdings backs the company.
- Infinity Natural Resources, a Morgantown, W.V.-based oil and natural gas producer, plans to raise $279.3 million in an offering of 13.3 million shares priced between $18 and $21 on the NYSE. The company posted $221 million in revenue for the year ending June 30, 2024. Pearl Energy Investments and NGP Capital back the company.
- Ascentage Pharma, a Suzhou, China-based cancer, hepatitis B, and age-related diseases therapies developer, plans to raise $148.5 million in an offering of 7.3 million American depositary shares priced at $20.34 on the Nasdaq. The company posted $124 million in sales for the year ending June 30, 2024. Edward Ming Guo and Takeda Pharmaceutical back the company.
- SailPoint, an Austin-based identity security solutions provider for enterprises, filed to go public on the Nasdaq. The company posted $824 million in revenue for the year ending Oct. 31, 2024. Thoma Bravo backs the company.
PEOPLE
- BGF, a London-based private equity firm, promoted Alex Garfitt, Alex Snodgrass, Chris Boyes, Dennis Atkinson, Harry Jones, Leo Casey, Ned Dorbin, Pinesh Mehta, and Seb Saywood to partner.
- Overture Ventures, a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm, added Leila Pirbay as a principal and Liron Gitig as a venture partner. Previously, Pirbay was at EQT Ventures, and Gitig was at FTV Capital.
- Red Cell Partners, a McLean, Va.-based incubation and investment firm, added Timothy G. Ferris as president of its healthcare practice. Previously, he was at NHS England.
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