Understanding Funding Rounds in Cybersecurity

From 0 to $30M: Analyzing the playbooks of 2025's Hottest Cybersecurity Startups I've tracked every major cybersecurity funding round this year through Execweb. The pattern is clear: The startups raising $30M+ aren't following the old playbook. Here's what 7AI ($36M), Noma Security ($32M), Cogent Security ($11M), and Unbound ($4M) did differently: 1. They Sold the Problem, Not the Product 7AI didn't pitch "AI agents." They pitched "Your SOC analysts are drowning in 10,000 daily alerts." Cogent Security didn't sell "vulnerability management." They sold "Threats move at AI speed, but your remediation moves at human speed." The best founders lead with pain, not features. 2. They Built Before They Pitched Every one of these startups had paying customers before raising. Noma: Already protecting GenAI deployments at scale 7AI: Teams using their platform daily Unbound: 7,000+ data leaks prevented pre-funding VCs don't fund ideas anymore. They fund traction. 3. They Targeted New Attack Surfaces Notice what they're NOT building: • Another SIEM • Another EDR • Another firewall Instead: • GenAI security (Noma) • AI-powered SOC automation (7AI) • Enterprise AI governance (Unbound) They found problems created by NEW technology shifts. 4. They Recruited from the Problem Space 7AI founders: Previously built security at scale Cogent team: Engineers from Abnormal, Coinbase, Blackstone Noma founders: IDF Unit 8200 alumni Your team IS your first product. Elite operators attract elite capital. 5. They Priced on Value, Not Competition Traditional model: "Competitor charges $50K, we'll charge $40K" New model: "We prevent $5M in breach costs, we'll charge $500K" The shift from cost-based to value-based pricing changes everything. Here's the brutal truth: In 2025, you can't raise on a pitch deck. You can't compete on features. You can't win by being 10% better. You need: → A problem that didn't exist 2 years ago → Proof you can solve it at scale → A team that's lived the pain → Customers who'll advocate for you → Metrics that show real impact The bar has never been higher. But neither have the rewards. We're seeing $100M valuations at seed stage for teams that check these boxes. Which playbook are you following? If you're building in cybersecurity and want to connect with CISOs who can validate your approach, let's talk. At Execweb (Acquired by CyberRisk Alliance), we've facilitated 3,000+ intro sales meetings between innovative vendors and Fortune 1000 security leaders and facilitated millions in deal flow. The best time to build relationships is before you need them. #Cybersecurity #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #B2BSales #SecurityStartups #GTMStrategy

A new wave of cybersecurity IPOs is anticipated over the next 12 to 18 months. SailPoint's re-entry last week served as an initial test, and despite a muted first-day performance, the subsequent upward trajectory of its share price suggests a positive outcome. New research led by Matthew Ball at Canalys (now part of Omdia) analyzed 24 previous cybersecurity IPOs between 2012 and 2024 to spotlight the most active investors that funded those vendors’ growth and their subsequent performance post-listing. The results were mixed: • The 24 vendors (see chart) collectively were valued at $51.8 billion at IPO and raised a total of $6.1 billion in funding. SentinelOne ($1.2 billion), CrowdStrike ($612 million) and Cloudflare ($525 million) were the top three in terms of IPO funding. SailPoint recently surpassed them all by raising $1.3 billion. • In the lead up to their IPOs, the 24 vendors secured $4.4 billion in pre-IPO funding. SentinelOne ($697 million), CrowdStrike ($445 million) and Tenable ($310 million) led the way. The current three most funded pre-IPO vendors are Wiz ($2.0 billion), Netskope ($1.4 billion) and Snyk ($1.2 billion). • More than 150 different investors provided funding in the lead up to the 24 IPOs. Accel, Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.p. had invested in four or more of them. These plus others like Lightspeed, Coatue, ICONIQ Growth, and Andreessen Horowitz, are among the most active in the next wave of potential IPOs, and will be looking for a return on their collective (all investors) $63.5 billion of pre-IPO cybersecurity vendor funding since 2020. • 13 of the 24 vendors have either been acquired or gone private. Splunk and Carbon Black were acquired by Cisco and VMware for a combined value of $30.2 billion. The remaining 11 were acquired in take-private deals totalling $47.4 billion. Like with SailPoint, this allows vendors to invest in longer-term strategies free from the scrutiny of quarterly reporting. • Thoma Bravo took six vendors private (ForgeRock, Ping Identity, Darktrace, Proofpoint, SailPoint and Sophos) for $33.5 billion. Permira (Mimecast) STG – Symphony Technology Group (FireEye, Inc.) Vista Equity Partners (KnowBe4) Francisco Partners (Sumo Logic) and Turn/River Capital (Tufin) were also active. The Thoma Bravo and Permira assets are most likely to follow SailPoint and return to being publicly listed.

Founders - here's how much your peers raised in seed and Series A rounds this year. Data from 1,651 primary rounds raised by US startups on Carta. No bridges or extensions in the dataset. 25th / 50th / 75th percentile values for cash raised by industry. If your industry wasn't included, we probably didn't have enough volume to make a useful analysis this time around. Note - AI is in basically every industry! But if it were broken out, it would be at the top or near the top of both stages. 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝟱 • Cybersecurity: $5.2M median cash raised • Web3: $5M median • Hardware: $4.6M • SaaS: $4M • Biotech: $3.8M Interesting that SaaS came in above Biotech even though we hear about the capital intensive nature of bio work a lot. 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗔 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝟱 • Renewables: $15.3M median cash raised • Cybersecurity: $15M median • Hardware: $13.8M • SaaS: $12M • Biotech: $11.5M The industry with the smallest round sizes across both stages was Food. Sorry food entrepreneurs - looks like VCs want you to do more with less 🙏 Share with a fundraising founder! #startups #seed #seriesA #founders #fundraising