Cyberstarts Notches Cyera Win, Plots New Fund

The $12 billion valuation that Cyera snagged in a $600 million fundraise announced last week shows how hungry investors were for the cybersecurity startup’s AI-focused pitch. The five-year-old startup sells software that can protect companies’ data from hackers equipped with increasingly powerful AI tools—a threat highlighted by Anthropic’s warnings about the cyber capabilities of its Mythos model.

For the VC fund Cyberstarts, the Cyera round gives it more bragging rights after its blockbuster Wiz exit last year. The fund wrote Cyera’s first $4.2 million seed funding check five years ago at a $15 million valuation; on paper, Cyberstarts has returned more than 224 times its original investment in Cyera, says Cyberstarts founder Gili Raanan. Its total stake in the company including follow-on investments is worth more than $1.2 billion, Raanan told me.