As companies race to deploy AI coding tools, software is being created faster than ever. But speed has brought a new problem, which is more code, more dependencies and a wider attack surface across the software lifecycle.
This shift has helped Belfast-based Cloudsmith secure a $72 million Series C round, one of the largest funding deals in Northern Ireland’s history. The investment was led by TCV, with participation from Insight Partners and other existing backers.
In 2021, Cloudsmith raised a $15 million Series A round. Since then, the company has expanded rapidly, winning customers among Fortune 500 and Global 2000 businesses.
Why has AI made artifact management critical?
Every application depends on thousands of software components. These include open-source libraries, internal packages and third-party dependencies. Managing them was already complex. AI has now multiplied that challenge.
Coding agents can generate software artifacts at huge volume and speed. While that improves productivity, it also increases the chances of insecure code, vulnerable dependencies or malicious components entering the supply chain. For large enterprises, the issue has moved beyond IT teams and become a boardroom concern.
Regulators are also paying closer attention. Businesses are increasingly expected to prove that software, including code touched by AI systems, is secure by design and traceable throughout development.
Cloudsmith positions itself as the control layer for that new environment. Its platform gives engineering teams visibility over every package across formats and environments, helping them govern what enters production and what gets blocked.
From Belfast startup to global infrastructure player
Cloudsmith was founded in 2016 by Alan Carson and Lee Skillen. The company set out to modernise how businesses store, manage and distribute software packages the building blocks developers rely on to ship products quickly.
Many of those customers are replacing older, on-premise systems with Cloudsmith’s cloud-native platform. That migration has become more urgent as software teams seek tools that can keep pace with modern development cycles.
New capital to fuel growth and product expansion
The fresh funding will be used to accelerate product development and expand go-to-market operations. In practical terms, that means building more features for security, compliance and automation, while growing sales reach among global enterprises.
Built in the cloud from the start, the Cloudsmith platform was designed for scale rather than retrofitted from legacy architecture. That matters when customers are handling millions of packages across multiple teams and geographies.
Our thoughts
The fresh rise is significant for Belfast and the wider Northern Irish tech ecosystem. A startup founded less than a decade ago is now attracting major global capital while serving some of the world’s largest enterprises.
As AI continues to transform software creation, the winners may not only be the tools that write code, but also the platforms that keep that code secure, organised and trusted. Cloudsmith is betting that in the AI era, governance will be just as valuable as generation.
