Cloud networking company Cato Networks Ltd. said today it has raised a hefty $77 million in a funding round that it says validates its adaptable infrastructure at a time when many companies are struggling to enable work-from-home remote access to their employees.

The fresh round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with the participation of Aspect Ventures, Greylock Partners, Singtel Innov8, U.S. Venture Partners and Cato founder and Chief Executive Shlomo Kramer, bringing Cato’s total amount raised north of $200 million.

Cato Networks is a provider of software-defined wide-area networking tools. SD-WAN, as it’s usually known, is a specific application of software-defined networking technology applied to WAN connections, which are used to connect enterprise networks – including branch offices and data centers – over large geographic distances. A WAN might be used, for example, to connect branch offices to a central corporate network, or to connect widely separate data centers.

In earlier times, WAN connections often generally required special proprietary hardware. But the SD-WAN movement seeks to move more of the network control into the cloud, using a software approach.

Cato’s specific SD-WAN platform is called Cato Cloud, which is a hosted traffic management platform that enables organizations to centrally control communications from their data centers to branch offices, cloud deployments and remote workers. It also allows them to regulate access to applications and services for mobile workers.

Cato seems to be one of several technology firms that might be benefiting from the coronavirus outbreak that’s swept across the globe, forcing millions of people to work at home to avoid spreading the disease. In March, it reported a 220% increase in bookings, for example.

“This round of financing is a testament to the unique value Cato delivers to customers even under the most difficult business conditions,” Kramer said in a statement. “The global pandemic has disrupted business-as-usual and underscored the need for an adaptable infrastructure. While many companies struggle to enable work-from-home remote access to all employees, Cato customers only had to flip a switch.”

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