Last month, an AI-powered data security startup Cyera closed one $300 million, Series D led by Accelerate And Sapphire Companies. The deal tied Cyera to the largest raise by a startup operating at the intersection of two of venture capitalists’ favorite sectors: AI and cybersecurity.
What other agreement linked to Cyera’s D series for the largest in the sector? Cyera’s Series C, also at $300 million, back in April.
While Cyera’s two rounds may be the largest, the company is far from the only AI-enabled cybersecurity startup to have raised significant amounts of money.
So far this year, venture capital-backed AI cybersecurity startups have raised more than $2.6 billion, according to Crunchbase. data. That almost triples the just over $900 million these startups raised all of last year in almost the same number of deals.
These dollar figures have increased significantly since the fourth quarter of last year, when just $121 million was raised by AI cybersecurity startups in 28 deals.
The rise of AI
While many venture capitalists in the cyber sector preached patience To see how AI can be most effectively used in the industry, it seems their willingness to open their checkbooks tells a different story.
Investors appear interested in the possibility of startups using AI to secure the digital world – particularly in areas such as data protection, identity and third-party risks – or even to contribute themselves to secure the development of large language models.
The different uses of AI in cyberspace are evident when looking at some of the largest increases in the sub-sector.
Cyera, for example, has an AI-driven data security platform that helps enterprise security teams understand what data they have and how it’s used, as well as how to secure it across a landscape complex digital. Of course, reliance on data has only grown stronger as companies pursue AI initiatives. Cyera also uses AI in its platform to assess the security, privacy and regulatory compliance risks a company’s data poses.
Based in San Francisco Abnormal Security locked up $250 million, Series D led by Wellington Management in August, that valued the cybersecurity startup at $5.1 billion. Abnormal seeks to stop attacks and find compromised accounts in email and connected apps, using machine learning and AI to understand human behavior.
Another big deal happened last month, when the anti-ransomware company Halcyon announced a $100 million, Series C that values the company at $1 billion. Halcyon, based in Austin, Texas, has developed a platform that uses ransomware-trained AI and machine learning to reverse the effects of a ransomware attack, ensuring that businesses’ operations are never actually damaged. affected by an attack.
Its Series C was led by Evolution Equity Partnersan active investor in the AI cyberspace who has also led large rounds for Couple And Protect AI.
AI helps secure money
AI funding was a big exception to the somewhat sluggish venture investment market and cyber – as well as other sectors such as healthcare and defense – also show how investor interest in artificial intelligence has helped improve the financing prospects of certain other sectors.
The adoption of AI in cybersecurity is not shocking given that cybersecurity has always been open to early adoption of the latest technologies. In the past, cybersecurity has been quick to add automation and machine learning technologies – likely to help address the sector’s labor shortage.
The same thing could happen with AI, even as investors have become increasingly skeptical of startups’ claims about AI and how to monetize it.
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Illustration: Li-Anne Dias
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