The problem
Open source dependencies ship with vulnerabilities and malware risk that security teams spend endless hours patching
What they do
Hardened, zero-CVE container images, libraries and VMs rebuilt from source for engineering teams
Traction ~$100M ARR (Sacra est., Jun 2026), up from $40M in FY2025; ~2x YoY
Hiring trend
- Open roles
- 90
- Ops roles
- 4
- Headcount
- ~710
Slowing: headcount ~710, +3% YoY (Revelio, Mar 2026); postings -19% vs 2025; 77 open roles
Hiring in
- Remote (US)
- Remote (UK)
Latest news
Jun 2026
Named a Leader in the inaugural Gartner Magic Quadrant for Software Supply Chain Security ↗Glassdoor
4.4 ★ 78 reviews ↗Funding
- Last round
- $280M (growth financing)
- Stage
- Series D + growth financing
- Date
- Oct 2025
Led by General Catalyst Customer Value Fund (Series D $356M, Apr 2025: Kleiner Perkins, IVP)
- Hiring+290 open roles on the live job board (30+ roles = +2)
- Funding recency+1.5Series D + growth financing · $280M (growth financing), Oct 2025 (12 months ago): 6–12 months = +1, $100M+ round +0.5
- Traction+1.5Strong growth: ~$100M ARR (Sacra est., Jun 2026), up from $40M in FY2025; ~2x YoY
- Red flags−11 significant flag in the last 24 months, −1 eachLayoffs reported by ex-employees in May 2026 (no official count); recent Glassdoor reviews cite sales-leadership churn; postings down ~19% YoY and co-founder Kim Lewandowski stepped backLinkedIn: ex-employee 'impacted by layoffs at Chainguard' (May 2026) ↗ · Glassdoor review: sales leadership pushing out top talent (Sep 2026) ↗ · Revelio Labs: ~710 staff, +3.1% YoY, postings -18.8% (Aug 2026) ↗ · Jobs with Startups: layoff report and co-founder departure signals (2026) ↗
- Total4.02 + 1.5 + 1.5 − 1 = 4.0 → Tempo (3.5–4.24)
Distance (Half) is a separate read on how long the lead can last. It doesn't change the score.
Distance
Half · edge: hard to leave
Created the hardened-image category and is a Gartner MQ Leader with broad enterprise use; Docker giving away 1,000+ hardened images free since Dec 2025 squeezes its core product.
Sources: PR Newswire: Chainguard a Leader in inaugural Gartner MQ (Jun 2026) ↗ · TechTarget: Free Docker Hardened Images challenge Chainguard (Dec 2025) ↗
Watch-outs
Layoffs reported by ex-employees in May 2026 (no official count); recent Glassdoor reviews cite sales-leadership churn; postings down ~19% YoY and co-founder Kim Lewandowski stepped back
Sources: LinkedIn: ex-employee 'impacted by layoffs at Chainguard' (May 2026) ↗ · Glassdoor review: sales leadership pushing out top talent (Sep 2026) ↗ · Revelio Labs: ~710 staff, +3.1% YoY, postings -18.8% (Aug 2026) ↗ · Jobs with Startups: layoff report and co-founder departure signals (2026) ↗
Last checked Oct 25, 2026