Chainguard Announces $280 Million Growth Financing from General Catalyst to Usher in Next Era of Trusted Open Source Software

With the strategic capital from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund (CVF), Chainguard has secured $636 million in the last six months and $892 million in total over time

KIRKLAND, Wash., Oct. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Chainguard, the trusted source for open source, today announced $280 million in growth financing from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund (CVF). This investment, which will help Chainguard meet growing demand and accelerate its mission to make open source software trustworthy by default, follows the company's Series D fundraise in April and marks $636 million total secured in the past six months and $892 million in total.

The growing need for trusted open source at scale

Open source software (OSS) makes up 90% of the code organizations use today, enabling the applications and technologies these businesses rely on to deliver critical products and services. OSS has driven substantial innovation for industries globally; however, its ubiquity and use today make it a prime target for attackers. Even the smallest vulnerability can take down entire companies. As every organization races to secure its software supply chain, the demand for trustworthy, production-ready open source has reached unprecedented levels. To meet this need, Chainguard delivers hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of all the open source software engineers rely on today.

"Open source powers the world, but the way it's delivered and deployed often introduces risk. At Chainguard, we're flipping that script: we guard open source from all the things that can go wrong with it, so engineering teams can build anything they want with it," said Dan Lorenc, CEO and co-founder, Chainguard. "We're building the best, trusted source for open source. With this strategic capital, we can accelerate the adoption of Chainguard across more companies, helping engineering teams build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk."

"Chainguard is defining a new category at the heart of modern infrastructure: trusted open source software. By solving one of the most pressing challenges in software development and deployment, the company is setting a new standard for engineering teams," said Pranav Singhvi, Managing Director and Co-Head of CVF. "Dan is a standout founder who has built the business with incredible unit economics and intelligent capital allocation decisions."

Fueling Chainguard's next phase of go-to-market growth

Given Chainguard's strong unit economics, the company will use this balance sheet from General Catalyst to invest in and accelerate its go-to-market scale while preserving equity dollars for investments into product, engineering and additional strategic long-term value creation. This approach enhances the company's financial profile, supports disciplined growth, and positions Chainguard to capture a rapidly expanding market opportunity as trusted open source becomes mission-critical infrastructure for global enterprises.

"This growth capital reflects the strength of Chainguard's business, and how we're scaling rapidly, operating with discipline, and planning for the long term," said Eyal Bar, Chief Financial Officer at Chainguard. "Our partnership with General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund (CVF) is an important part of that strategy: it enables us to scale go-to-market investment without diluting ownership or slowing innovation. This structure allows our commercial motion to fund its own growth while giving us the flexibility to double down on product and engineering — where our differentiation lies, and build the operational scale and financial profile required for the next stage of growth."

Building on continued momentum

As Chainguard scales to meet customer demand, the company has recently reached numerous milestones, including:

• Launching Chainguard Libraries for JavaScript, Java, and Python, giving organizations confidence that malware has not been inserted during the build or distribution of libraries in those ecosystems.
• Announcing Chainguard VMs, offering customers a cloud-agnostic, threat-resistant environment for deploying and running containers.
• Surpassing 1,700 minimal, zero-CVE images in its Chainguard Containers catalog, covering the majority of modern application stacks.
• Announcing availability on all major cloud provider marketplaces – Microsoft Azure, AWS, and GCP – so customers can adopt Chainguard Containers directly within their existing procurement and deployment workflows.
• Welcoming a new CISO and new CFO to support the next phase of its growth.
• Being named to the Forbes Cloud 100 and the Fortune Best Workplaces in Technology, validating its industry leadership and culture.

To learn more about Chainguard, visit www.chainguard.dev/.

About Chainguard

Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. By delivering hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of all the open source software engineers rely on, Chainguard helps organizations build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk. Its customers include Fortune 500 enterprises and global industry leaders, including Anduril, Canva, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Snap Inc., and Snowflake. Chainguard is venture-backed by leading investors, including Amplify, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Spark Capital. For more information, visit: https://www.chainguard.dev/

About General Catalyst

General Catalyst is a global investment and transformation company that partners with the world's most ambitious entrepreneurs to drive resilience and applied AI.

We support founders with a long-term view who challenge the status quo, partnering with them from seed to growth stage and beyond.

With offices in San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Berlin, Bangalore, and London, we have supported the growth of 800+ businesses, including Airbnb, Anduril, Applied Intuition, Commure, Glean, Guild, Gusto, Helsing, Hubspot, Kayak, Livongo, Mistral, Ramp, Samsara, Snap, Stripe, Sword, and Zepto.

For more: www.generalcatalyst.com, @generalcatalyst

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