09 Apr VC Report, Vol. 2, No. 1: Cybersecurity VC Funding Bounces Back In Q1 2017
Menlo Park, Calif. – Apr. 4, 2017
The cybersecurity market is on a hot streak. After a slow close to 2016 (cybersecurity funding dropped by more than half in the fourth quarter), some cybersecurity watchers were worried that the industry was slowing down. The sheer volume of deals in Q1 2017 show that this isn’t the case. In January alone, the market saw $279 million in financing volume.
Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ:SYMC), the world’s leading cyber security company, announced the formation of Symantec Ventures to help cyber security startups accelerate the delivery of core innovation to the security marketplace. In addition to contributing capital, Symantec aims to help the startup community reduce expenses and accelerate time to market.
“As we noted in Q4 2016, Cybercrime damages are predicted to reach $6 trillion annually by 2021, and security spending is expected to exceed $1 trillion cumulatively over the next 5 years” says Steve Morgan, founder and Editor-In-Chief at Cybersecurity Ventures. “In Q4 2016 we predicted that VCs would take another big bite into cyber firms during 2017. Q1 activity confirms our speculation.”
Cybersecurity Ventures expects to see significant VC and corporate investor deal flow in the cybersecurity space for the remainder of 2017.
March
Mar. 30. Paris-based Ledger, a cryptocurrency startup, raised a $7 million Series A round to make hardware security devices ubiquitous.
Mar. 30. SmartSky Networks, a North Carolina startup building cellular towers for in-flight connectivity, announced a $170 million Series B funding round. One target market are government agencies interested in the company’s ability to send live video streams off an airborne platform, the cybersecurity advantage of having narrower spot beams (which reduce the physical access reach of potential hackers), and SmartSky’s encryption.
Mar. 29. Ripjar, a London-based firm focused on analytic problems for real-time threat intelligence, anti-money laundering and insider threats, announced that it has secured £3.75 million GBP ($4.5 million USD) in capital in order to bring its data analytics platform to more customers across the globe.
Mar. 27. Israeli-headquartered cybersecurity firm Votiro is raising $10 million in advance of ASX IPO plans, and Redfield Asset Management has already committed $2.93 million.
Mar. 27. root9B Holdings, Inc. announced the closing of the private placement financing consisting of secured convertible promissory notes and common stock purchase warrants for net proceeds of $2.25 million
Mar. 22. VU Security, an identity security and fraud prevention firm based in Argentina, has secured $4.3 million in Series A funding from existing investors INICIA and NXTP Labs.
Mar. 21. Bandura Systems, a St. Louis, Mo. based cybersecurity software startup, has reported raising an additional $650,000 in its most current funding round, bringing the total to $1.3 million.
Mar. 20. Bayshore Networks announced the closing of its Series A venture capital investment, with a final investment from Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV). Total investment now reaches $15 million.
Mar. 14. Dyadic Security secured $12 million in Series B funding, bringing total funding to roughly $15 million. Investors include Innovation Endeavors and Citi Ventures.
Mar. 10. Taiwan-based Bitcoin hardware wallet maker CoolBitX has raised $500,000 in order to move into the broader blockchain security space and provide solutions for IoT devices and the medical industry.
Mar. 9. Cloud-based networking company Cradlepoint, with headquarters in Boise, Idaho, announced that it has raised a new $89 million Series C Round of funding, focused on expanding its network security solutions.
Mar. 9. Albuquerque, N.M. based RiskSense announced that it has doubled its funding round, raising a total of $14 million. Jump Capital joins four firms investing in the company’s Series A round of financing.
Mar. 9. Cymulate, a SaaS based cyber-attack simulation company, raised $3 million in Series A funding. Susquehanna Growth Equity led the round.
Mar. 7. U.S.-Israeli mobile security firm Zimperium, has raised $15 million from Japan’s SoftBank in its latest funding round, its fourth, which brings the company’s total funding to $60 million. In June, Zimperium raised $25 million.
Mar. 6. London-based cybersecurity firm Garrison Technology Limited announced that they have raised £12 million in a Series A Funding round led by Touchstone Innovations. BGF Ventures, NM Capital, and the firm’s existing angel investors also participated in the round.
Mar. 6. Early-stage fund Parampara Capital announced its first investment in cybersecurity and cyber-intelligence startup Data Resolve Technologies.
February
Feb. 28. Israeli behavior analytics company Fortscale Security Ltd. raised $7 million in its latest financing round led by Evolution Equity Partners and Valor Capital Group.
Feb. 27. Strategic Cyber Ventures pledged $3.5 million to Polarity, helping the company expand its engineering and technology teams.
Feb. 24. San Francisco-based drone protection startup Dedrone announced $15 million in additional funding from investors to develop its products. Felicis Ventures and Cisco’s Executive Chairman John Chambers delivered the bulk of the new funding.
Feb. 23. Privacy Labs, a startup that allows users to take control of their data, secured a $4 million seed round of funding led by Initialized Capital.
Feb. 22. Qumram announced further investment of 1.5 million Swiss Francs, from the technology-focused venture capital firm, Mundi Ventures, which is headquartered in Madrid.
Feb. 16. Trillium, a Tokyo-based automotive IoT cybersecurity company, announced that it closed a Series A financing round of investments by lead investor Global Brain, Mizuho Capital and DBJ Capital.
Feb. 14. Draper Triangle Ventures and the Ohio Innovation Fund, led a $3 million Series A funding round for Wiretap.
Feb. 13. Israeli cybersecurity company IntSights announced the completion of a $15 million Series B financing round. This round (which included investments by Glilot Capital Partners, Blackstone, Blumberg Capital, Wipro, Vintage Investment Partners, and other strategic investors) comes only four months after IntSights’ Series A round.
Feb. 13. Bayshore Networks, a cybersecurity leader for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), announced Samsung NEXT Ventures completed a strategic equity investment in the company’s Series A financing round.
Feb. 10. empow, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based cybersecurity startup, raised $9 million in funding. Backers includes both private investors and the Office of the Chief Scientist at the Israel Ministry of Economy.
Feb. 9. Israeli cybersecurity startup Javelin Networks announced the closing of a $5 million Series-A financing round, with investment from RSL Capital, Hillsven Capital, UpWest Labs, Tomer Weingarten, CEO of SentinelOne and other private investors.
Feb. 9. Demisto, Inc., an innovator in Security Operations technology, announced that it has closed its $20 million Series B round of funding.
Feb. 9. TruSTAR, a security intelligence exchange platform built to incentivize information sharing, raised $5 million in Series A funding in a round led by Storm Ventures.
Feb. 8. HackerOne announced $40 million in Series C financing. The round was led by Dragoneer Investment Group.
Feb. 8. Trident Capital Cybersecurity announced that it closed its $300 million cybersecurity fund — which was was oversubscribed.
Feb. 7. Exabeam, a leader in security intelligence solutions, announced it raised $30 Million in series C funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Cisco Investments.
Feb. 7. SecuredTouch completed a $3.5 million initial funding round with investment from the RDC Fund, among others.
Feb. 7. Netwrix Corporation announced that it secured a Series A financing round led by Updata Partners.
Feb. 6. Verato, Inc., a provider of cloud-based identity matching, announced today that the company has raised $12.5 million in Series B financing.
Feb. 3. Drie announced the completion of a £410,000 seed funding round led by undisclosed angel investors.
Feb. 2. Utimaco, a worldwide supplier of professional cybersecurity solutions, received all regulatory approvals for its new investor EQT Mid Market, a leading private equity group.
Feb. 2. InfoArmor, Inc., a provider of employee protection solutions and elite cyber intelligence services, received an investment from global growth equity investor Summit Partners. Deal value was not disclosed.
Feb. 1. Startup company Red Tulip Systems received €300,000 from UNIIQ investment fund.
Feb. 1. LogicHub, a California-based new security startup, raised $8.4m in Series A funding. The round was led by Storm Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners.
Feb. 1. Optiv Security, a provider of end-to-end cyber security solutions, and KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the completion of the acquisition of a majority stake of Optiv by KKR.
January
Jan. 28. Pindrop Security completed a $75 million Series C funding round, with investment from Google Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Institutional Venture Partners.
Jan. 25. Internet security company SentinelOne has raised $70 million in Series C financing. New investor Redpoint Ventures led the round, along with investment from Sound Ventures, Third Point Ventures, Data Collective, Granite Hill Capital Partners, Westly Group, and SineWave Ventures.
Jan. 24. Microsoft Ventures joined Illusive Networks, a cybersecurity startup based out of Israel, as its newest strategic investor.
Jan. 24. Cybellum, an Israeli cybersecurity company raised $2.5 million in a seed financing round led by Blumberg Capital.
Jan. 24. Israeli cyber startup Secret Double Octopus raises $6M Series A Funding. Investors included Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Liberty Media’s Israel Venture Fund, Iris Capital, Benhamou Global Ventures and angel investor Yaniv Tal.
Jan. 20. ID DataWeb, a Virginia cybersecurity startup, picked up a $3 million investment from Washington, D.C.-based Strategic Cyber Ventures.
Jan. 20. Enterprise incubator Alchemist landed $2.1 million in investment.
Jan. 18. ProtectWise, a security startup, announced a $25 million round today, with investment from Arsenal Venture Partners, Top Tier Capital Partners, Tola Capital and unnamed strategic investors.
Jan. 17. OPAQ Networks announced it has completed a $21 million in Series A funding round led by Columbia Capital, Harmony Partners and Zero-G Inc.
Jan. 17. Fraugster, a German and Israeli anti-fraud technology startup, raised $5 million in a venture funding round led by Earlybird.
Jan. 17. Colorado Impact Fund led a Series A funding round to invest $4 million in SecureSet Academy.
Jan. 12. Transmit Security, an Israeli startup developing programmable biometric authentication has announced a $40 million self-founded round of financing.
Jan. 10. Phantom announced it has raised $13.5 million in Series B funding round led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from existing investors TechOperators Venture Capital, Blackstone, Foundation Capital, In-Q-Tel, Rein Capital, Zach Nelson, and John W. Thompson.
Jan. 9. Cybersecurity think tank and venture fund Team8 said that Microsoft Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and Citigroup would join its partnership of international supporters. Although direct investment figures are undisclosed, the total funds raised by Team8 reached $92 million.
Jan. 6. Total data protection company Bitglass announced it raised $45 million in Series C funding from Future Fund, NEA, Norwest, Singtel Innov8 and others.
Jan. 5. New York-based Payfone raised $23.5 million in Series E financing. BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners and Andrew Prozes led the round. There was also participation from Strauss Zelnick, Maclab Development Group and Transaction Network Services, and RRE Ventures among others.
– Morag McGreevey is a freelance writer covering cybersecurity, national security, VC deals, and investing.
