(Reuters) - Cybersecurity ratings firm SecurityScorecard has raised $180 million of fresh capital as part of a late-stage funding round led by investors such as Silver Lake Waterman, it said on Thursday. The latest round values the company at close to $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. It brings SecurityScorecard’s total funding to date to more than $290 million. Aside from Silver Lake Waterman, which is the late-stage fund that is housed inside private equity firm Silver Lake, T Rowe Price Associates Inc, Kayne Anderson Rudnick and Fitch Ventures came in as new investors in the round. Demand for cybersecurity services has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies spend more to protect the information technology (IT) systems of employees working from home. “With the increasing number of breaches, cybersecurity ratings are a must-have for organizations to make critical business decisions,” said Aleksandr Yampolskiy, chief executive officer and co-founder of the company. Worldwide IT spending is expected to rise more than 6% to $3.9 trillion in 2021, according to technology research firm Gartner, with a big chunk of spending going towards security. Gartner did not provide an exact break-up of spending on security. Existing investors, such as Google Ventures, Evolution Equity Partners, Accomplice, Intel Capital, AXA Venture Partners and others, also participated in SecurityScorecard’s latest funding round. SecurityScorecard, which monitors and assesses the cybersecurity strengths and weaknesses of nearly two million organizations, said it is on track to rate more than 20 million firms by the end of the year. The company said it plans to use the fresh capital to fund its global expansion.