Cybersecurity VC funding surges to a record $11.5B in 2021

The pandemic completely upended the threat landscape as we know it. Ransomware accounted for an estimated 2.9 million attacks so far in 2021, and supply-chain attacks that targeted Kaseya and SolarWinds have increased fourfold over 2020, according to the European Union’s cybersecurity agency, ENISA, which recently warned that the more traditional cybersecurity protections are no longer effective in defending against these types of attacks.

This has created an unprecedented need for emerging technologies, attracting both organizations and investors to look closer at newer cybersecurity technologies.

“We are seeing a perfect storm of factors coming together to create the most aggressive threat landscape in history for commercial and government organizations around the world,” said Dave DeWalt, founder and managing director of NightDragon, which recently invested in multi-cloud security startup vArmour. “As an investor and advisor, I feel we have a responsibility to help these organizations better prepare themselves to mitigate this growing risk.”

According to Momentum Cyber’s latest cybersecurity market review out Wednesday, investors poured $11.5 billion in total venture capital financing into cybersecurity startups in the first half of 2021, up from $4.7 billion during the same period a year earlier.

More than 36 of the 430 total transactions surpassed the $100 million mark, according to Momentum, which includes the $543 million Series A raised by passwordless authentication company Transmit Security and the $525 million round closed by cloud-based security company Lacework.

“As an investor in the cyber market for over fifteen years, I can say that this market climate is unlike anything we’ve seen to date,” said Bob Ackerman, founder and managing director of AllegisCyber Capital, which recently led a $26.5 million investment in cybersecurity startup Panaseer. “It is encouraging to finally see CEOs, boards of directors, investors and more paying serious attention to this space and putting the resources and capital in place to fund the innovations that address the cybersecurity challenges of today and tomorrow.”

Unsurprisingly, M&A volume also saw a massive increase during the first six months of the year, with significant deals for companies in cloud security, security consulting, and risk and compliance. Total M&A volume reached a record-breaking $39.5 billion across 163 transactions, according to Momentum, more than four-times the $9.8 billion spent in the first half of 2020 across 93 transactions.

Nine M&A deals in 2021 so far have been valued at greater than $1 billion, including Proofpoint’s $12.3 billion acquisition by Thoma Bravo, Auth0’s $6.4 billion acquisition by Okta, and McAfee’s $4 billion acquisition by TG.

“Through the first half of 2021, we have witnessed unprecedented strategic activity with both M&A and financing volumes at all-time highs,” said Eric McAlpine and Michael Tedesco, managing partners at Momentum Cyber. “We fully expect this trend to continue through the rest of the year and into 2022.”

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