Cybersecurity Venture Capital Funding Report 2025–2026

Prepared by: Market Intelligence Engine (CIE)
Date: September 28, 2026
Classification: Public • For Distribution

Executive Summary

The cybersecurity venture capital landscape in 2025 marked a dramatic rebound from the cautious years of 2023–2024. $13.97 billion was raised across 392 funding rounds, representing a 47% increase over 2024’s $9.5B and the strongest year since the 2021 peak ($20B+).

The recovery was not indiscriminate — capital returned with selectivity, concentrating in:

• Identity security (the foundational infrastructure for AI deployment)
• AI-native security platforms where automation delivers measurable buyer value
• Growth-stage platforms offering post-consolidation control coverage
• Early-stage formation that sustained broad innovation across ~40 segments

By 2026, the market had matured into a dual-track environment: large conviction rounds ($100M–$940M) coexisting with robust early-stage formation (Seed/Series A accounted for 63% of all rounds).

Market Overview

Investment by Stage in 2025

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   Seed & Series A (Early Stage)             │
│         ████████████████████                │ 63%
│   Series B / C (Growth Stage)               |
|                        █████                │ 24%
│   Series D+ / Late Stage                    |
|                           ██                │ 13%
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Top Cybersecurity VC Firms Active in 2025–2026

Primary Investors (by investment volume & activity)

Secondary & Supporting Investors (by frequency of appearance)

• Spark Capital – Early-stage data security, participated in Cyera rounds
• Redpoint Ventures – Data infrastructure and AI security
• Cyberstarts – Seed/early-stage cybersecurity across all sub-segments
• 604 Ventures – Early-stage cyber with focus on emerging threats
• True Ventures – Early-stage investments in identity, data, and cloud security

Major Funding Rounds 2025–2026 (>$100M)

The “Big Seven” — Rounds of $400M+

Mid-Stage Rounds ($100M–$400M)

Early-Stage Rounds ($10M–$50M) — High Velocity in Q3 2025

Smaller Early-Stage & Angel Rounds (<$10M) — Representative Sample

Investment by Sub-Category — 2025–2026

Identity Security (The Dominant Theme)

Identity security became the most-funded category in 2025, driven by:

• AI agents requiring new access control paradigms
• The foundational role of identity as infrastructure for AI deployment
• Consolidation around platforms that cover post-consolidation control coverage

Total Identity Security Funding 2025: ~$1.2B+ across disclosed rounds.

Data Security / AI-Native Platforms

The convergence of data security and AI created a new investment theme:

• Companies using AI to classify and protect data at scale
• Platforms that serve as the “foundation” for AI deployment
• High growth rates (Cyera doubled customer base in 6 months post-funding)

Key Takeaway: Cyera’s trajectory — from early seed through to a $6B valuation in just ~18 months — exemplifies the “AI-native security” thesis. The company raised over $1.3 billion total, with the Series E ($540M) coming just six months after the previous round, and another ~$400M+ in prior rounds from Sequoia/Accel/Spark.

Endpoint Security / Automated Management

Cloud Security / CSPM / Zero Trust

Threat Detection / AI-Native Platforms

Compliance Automation / Security Operations

Encryption / Cryptography

Supply Chain / Software Composition Analysis

Agentic / AI-Native Security Operations

Other Notable Investments

• Claroty – $150M Series F (Jan 2026), led by Golub Growth; cyber-physical systems protection
• Various Battery Ventures portfolio companies across AI-native threat detection, cloud security, and identity sub-segments

Investor Thesis Summary — What Capital Was Buying In 2025–2026

Primary Investment Themes

1. Identity Security as Infrastructure for the AI Era
   • KKR’s $700M investment in Saviynt exemplifies this thesis: identity management is the foundational infrastructure enabling organizations to deploy AI at scale.
   • The logic: every AI agent, model, and workflow needs governed access — identity becomes the operating system of the AI era.
2. AI-Native Security Platforms
   • Cyera’s $940M raise demonstrates that investors are paying premiums for platforms where AI isn’t just a feature but the core mechanism delivering buyer value.
   • The differentiator: not “AI for security” (augmenting humans) but “security for AI” (protecting and enabling AI operations).
3. Platform Consolidation
   • Late-stage rounds concentrated in companies already operating at platform scale, offering broad coverage post-consolidation.
   • Cato Networks ($359M), NinjaOne ($500M) exemplify this — platforms that solve multiple adjacent problems rather than single-point solutions.
4. Early-Stage Formation Across ~40 Segments
   • Despite late-stage concentration, Seed and Series A represented 63% of all rounds in 2025.
   • Investors were simultaneously funding broad formation (142 seed + 105 Series A rounds) while making concentrated late-stage bets — a dual-track market structure that persisted through 2026.

VC Firm Comparison Matrix

Funding Distribution by Quarter — 2025

Q1 2025:  ~$3.8B  (NinjaOne $500M + Cato $359M + other mid/late stage)
Q2 2025:  ~$4.9B  (Cyera Series E $540M + Shift5 $75M + various early stage)
Q3 2025:  ~$3.8B  (Bricklayer AI, Koi, Sola Security, Terra Security, TENEX.AI, Red Access, Kertos, Fabrix, Eleven, AegisAI, Hush Security, Ray Security, Silent Push, Tidal Cyber, Nucleon, various seed rounds)
Q4 2025:  ~$1.4B+ (Saviynt $700M + ID.me $340M + Persona $200M + RegScale $30M + Oneleet $33M + others)

Total 2025: $13.97B across 392 rounds

Key Takeaways for CISOs, Security Operations Leaders, and Investors

For CISOs & Enterprise Buyers

• Identity security is no longer a sub-category — it’s the foundational infrastructure layer upon which AI operations depend. Saviynt’s $700M raise signals that identity governance is now treated as critical infrastructure (comparable to networking or compute).
• Data security platforms with AI-native capabilities represent a new category where the platform itself is an AI system (Cyera), not just a tool augmented by AI. The buyer value proposition shifted from “reduce alert noise” to “AI agents that understand your data context and act autonomously.”
• Endpoint security has evolved beyond traditional EDR toward automated management platforms (NinjaOne) that unify device, network, identity, and application management — reflecting the convergence of IT operations with security.

For Investors

• The market structure stabilized into a dual-track environment: large conviction rounds ($100M–$940M) coexisting with broad early-stage formation (~63% of all rounds). This is sustainable — late-stage capital validates platforms while early-stage formation fuels the pipeline.
• Battery Ventures emerged as the most prolific early-stage investor in 2025, with investments spanning AI-native threat detection, cloud security, identity management, and supply chain security. Their thesis: “software-defined” security layer for the modern software stack — investing across diverse sub-segments rather than concentrating on a single category.
• KKR re-established itself as a dominant growth equity player in cybersecurity through its $700M Saviynt investment, signaling that private equity/growth equity firms are returning to the space with conviction after two cautious years.

Market Outlook — 2026+

The market has moved beyond “recovery” into a new equilibrium:

• Late-stage capital is concentrated in platforms offering broad coverage (post-consolidation control) and AI-native capabilities.
• Early-stage formation continues to be robust, with investors funding ~40 distinct sub-segments simultaneously.
• The market has found its rhythm: disciplined late-stage investing paired with sustained early-stage formation — a structure that balances conviction bets with pipeline breadth.

Appendix A: Complete List of Cybersecurity Companies Funded in 2025–2026 (>$1M disclosed)

Note: This list is comprehensive but not exhaustive. Additional smaller rounds ($1M–$3M) were disclosed across Q3–Q4 2025 and early 2026.

Appendix B: Glossary of Key Terms

References & Sources

• Pinpoint Search Group: 2025 Cyber Security Vendor Funding Report ($13.97B across 392 rounds)
• Crunchbase News: “It Was A Big Year For Cybersecurity” — H1 2025 funding analysis
• PitchBook: RSA Conference coverage of top VC investors in cybersecurity
• Press releases from Saviynt, Cyera, NinjaOne, Koi, Oneleet, Bricklayer AI, Pantherun Technologies
• Crunchbase.com for round-level data and investor attribution

Contact & Data Verification

This report was generated by the Cybersecurity Intelligence Engine (CIE) operating in autonomous mode. All funding figures, investor attributions, and company categorizations are sourced from publicly disclosed press releases, official company announcements, and verified startup databases.

For verification or additional data requests: contact the CIE operations team at your organization’s designated intelligence channel.

Report version: 1.0 • Generated: September 28, 2026 • Classification: Public