Cybereason Inc. raised $100 million from SoftBank Group Corp., bringing another cyber security business closer to the $1 billion valuation. The company now has a total equity funding of $188.6M, which it closed in 4 rounds from 4 Investors.
The company has raised the latest funding round at a valuation of $850 million.SoftBank financed the entire round, after leading Cybereason’s previous funding round of $59 million in 2015, reported Livemint.
The cash came from SoftBank’s own coffers rather than its new Vision Fund, a $93 billion vehicle with outside investors including Apple Inc., Qualcomm Inc., and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Cybereason, like other cybersecurity startups such as Cylance Inc., uses artificial intelligence to detect breaches of computer networks. AI helps it work faster to identify problems as hackers switch tactics with increasing dexterity and aggression, said chief executive officer Lior Div, in an interview. “The cadence was switched from years, to months, and then to weeks,” he said. “The way different government agencies are thinking about terrorists, we’re thinking about cyber.”
Cybersecurity startups valued at more than $1 billion include Cloudflare Inc., Cylance, Crowdstrike Inc. and Zscaler Inc. including the new funding round. Cybereason has previously raised $188.6 million from investors including Charles River Ventures, Lockheed Martin Corp., and Spark Capital.