Cybersecurity venture funding experienced a slowdown in 2023, according to reports. While the market saw a decline from its peak of $6.5 billion in Q1 of 2022 to $1.6 billion in Q2 2023, there were still six cybersecurity deals that surpassed $100 million, as listed by Crunchbase.
Interestingly, there were also four cybersecurity deals that reached exactly $100 million. This indicates that companies with innovative ideas in cloud security, secure access service edge (SASE), network monitoring, and identity threat protection continued to attract funding.
Snehal Antani, co-founder and CEO of Horizon3.ai, emphasized the need for new cybersecurity tools with improved capabilities in an SC Media Perspectives column. Antani stated that while established companies will fulfill some of these features, we should expect a vibrant ecosystem of cybersecurity startups challenging the status quo in the coming year.
Here are the top six cybersecurity deals of 2023:
1. Netskope
– Deal Size: $401 million
– Date: Jan. 5
– Primary Funders: Morgan Stanley Tactical Value, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, CPP Investments
– Product Focus: SASE
– CEO: Sanjay Beri
– Quote from Sanjay Beri: “Our vision from day one was that traditional network and security perimeters would transform…”
2. Wiz
– Deal Size: $300 million
– Type: Private, late-stage
– Primary Funders: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital Partners, Index Ventures
– Product Focus: Cloud security
– CEO: Assaf Rappaport
– Quote from Assaf Rappaport: “While there are many cybersecurity offerings in the market…”
3. Blackpoint Cyber
– Deal Size: $190 million
– Date: June 8
– Primary Funders: Bain Capital Tech, Accel
– Type: Growth investment
– Product Focus: Managed detection and response for MSPs
– CEO: Jon Murchison
– Quote from Jon Murchison: “The MSP market is growing fast…”
4. Deepwatch
– Deal Size: $180 million
– Date: Feb. 15
– Primary Funders: Springcoast Capital Partners, Splunk Ventures, Vista Credit Partners
– Type: Equity investment and strategic financing
– Product Focus: Managed detection and response
– CEO: Charlie Thomas
– Quote from Charlie Thomas: “Business transformation to cloud and digital, coupled with increasing levels of cyber risk…”
5. BlueVoyant
– Deal Size: $140 million
– Date: Nov. 29
– Primary Funders: Liberty Strategic Capital, ISTARI
– Type: Series E for acquisition of Conquest Cyber
– Product Focus: BlueVoyant (cloud-native network monitoring), Conquest Cyber (risk management)
– CEO: James Rosenthal
– Quote from James Rosenthal: “Despite the extensive range of cybersecurity vendors…”
6. SpyCloud
– Deal Size: $110 million
– Date: Aug. 23
– Primary Funder: Riverwood Capital
– Type: Growth round
– Product Focus: Identity threat protection
– CEO: Ted Ross
– Quote from Ted Ross: “For the last seven years, we have proven that reacting quickly to identity and authentication exposures is the crucial factor in stopping the cycle of cybercrime…”
While it may not be expected to see as many nine-figure deals this year, security professionals with innovative ideas can still find opportunities with venture capitalists.