Chainguard

The safe source for all open source — $3.5B Series D unicorn building hardened container images, language libraries, and VM images.

Services Software Supply Chain Security / DevSecOps / Open Source
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Kirkland, WA, USA HQ
622 employees
2021 founded

What is Chainguard?

Chainguard is a software supply chain security company founded in 2021 in Kirkland, Washington by five ex-Google open-source engineers — Dan Lorenc (CEO), Kim Lewandowski, Ville Aikas, Matt Moore, and Scott Nichols. The founding team created or contributed to some of the most widely-adopted open-source projects in software supply chain security, including **Sigstore**, **SLSA**, **Kubernetes**, and **Knative**. Chainguard's product line — hardened container images (Chainguard Images), language libraries (Chainguard Libraries), and VM images — ship with near-zero CVEs, SBOMs, signed provenance, and continuous rebuilds, giving enterprises a drop-in safe-source substitute for the open-source components they already depend on. The company raised a **$356M Series D at a $3.5B valuation** led by Kleiner Perkins and IVP (with Salesforce Ventures, Datadog Ventures, plus existing investors Sequoia, Spark Capital, Amplify, Redpoint, Lightspeed, Mantis, and Kerrest & Co. participating). ARR grew 7× to **$40M in FY2025** with the company on track to exceed $100M ARR in FY2026. The team has scaled to ~622 employees from 87 just two years prior.

Mission & values

Be the safe source for all open source — give every engineering team a drop-in supply of hardened, signed, continuously-rebuilt open-source components so they don't have to chase CVEs forever.

Qualifications

Chainguard hires across engineering (platform, image-pipeline, language-libraries, distroless, security research, ML), product, design, sales (Enterprise AE, SE, partnerships), customer success, marketing, developer relations, finance, legal, and people. The company is **remote-first globally** — most engineering, GTM, and corporate roles are open to candidates anywhere in the US, Canada, and select EU/UK locations with timezone overlap. Many of the founders and earliest hires came from the Sigstore/SLSA open-source communities, so visible OSS contributions help engineering applicants stand out. Apply via chainguard.dev/careers.

Leadership

D

Dan Lorenc

Co-Founder & CEO

Co-founded Chainguard in 2021; previously a staff software engineer at Google on the Kubernetes and supply-chain security teams. Created or co-created Sigstore, SLSA, and several other open-source supply-chain projects.

K

Kim Lewandowski

Co-Founder

Co-founded Chainguard in 2021; previously a product manager at Google focused on open-source supply-chain security and Sigstore. Recognized industry voice on SBOM and supply-chain attacks.

V

Ville Aikas

Co-Founder

Co-founded Chainguard in 2021; ex-Google staff engineer. Long-time Kubernetes and Knative contributor.

M

Matt Moore

Co-Founder & CTO

Co-founded Chainguard in 2021; ex-Google staff engineer. Knative and supply-chain tooling lead.

S

Scott Nichols

Co-Founder

Co-founded Chainguard in 2021; ex-Google. Knative contributor.

Hiring process

  1. 1

    Apply via chainguard.dev/careers

    Browse open roles. Engineering applicants — surface OSS contributions if you have them (Sigstore, SLSA, Kubernetes, container/supply-chain projects).

  2. 2

    Recruiter screen

    Initial conversation to confirm fit, location, comp expectations.

    About 3 days

  3. 3

    Hiring manager interview

    Role-specific deep-dive — past projects, technical depth, why-Chainguard.

    About 5 days

  4. 4

    Technical loop

    Multi-round interviews — coding, system design, security/supply-chain depth for eng, portfolio for design, case study for product/GTM.

    About 7 days

  5. 5

    Founder + offer

    Final round often with a founder or executive, then offer + comp + equity discussion.

    About 5 days

Funding

StageSeries C+
Total raised$612,000,000
Investors
Kleiner Perkins IVP Sequoia Capital Spark Capital Amplify Partners Redpoint Ventures Lightspeed Salesforce Ventures Datadog Ventures

Awards & recognition

  • $3.5B unicorn valuation Series D · 2025

    Kleiner Perkins / IVP

  • 7× ARR growth to $40M (FY2025) · 2025

    Chainguard

  • Founding team created Sigstore, SLSA, Kubernetes contributions · 2024

    Chainguard

  • Team grew 87 → 622 in ~2 years · 2026

    Chainguard

Company information

Frequently asked questions

Who founded Chainguard?
Five ex-Google open-source engineers in 2021 — Dan Lorenc (CEO), Kim Lewandowski, Ville Aikas, Matt Moore (CTO), and Scott Nichols. Collectively created/contributed to Sigstore, SLSA, Kubernetes, and Knative.
What does Chainguard do?
Hardened, near-zero-CVE container images, language libraries, and VM images — drop-in safe-source substitutes for popular open-source components, signed with provenance and continuously rebuilt.
What is the latest valuation?
$3.5B at the $356M Series D in April 2025, led by Kleiner Perkins and IVP.
How fast is Chainguard growing?
ARR grew 7× to $40M in FY2025; targeting $100M+ ARR in FY2026. Team grew from 87 to 622 in roughly 2 years.
Is Chainguard remote-friendly?
Yes — remote-first globally. Most engineering, GTM, and corporate roles are open to candidates anywhere in the US, Canada, and select EU/UK locations.
How important are OSS contributions?
Engineering applicants benefit from visible OSS contributions in supply-chain security, Sigstore, SLSA, Kubernetes, or container tooling — many of the team came from those communities.
How can I apply?
Browse open roles and apply at chainguard.dev/careers.

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