Exabeam, a Silicon Valley startup that helps companies automate the analysis and monitoring of their cyber security data, said it raised US$200 million (A$258 million) in its latest round of funding which valued the company at US$2.4 billion (A$3.1 billion).
While venture capital investment in cyber security has been rising fast over the years, it got an extra boost during the pandemic as remote work created extra challenges.
According to data firm PitchBook, venture funding in cybersecurity hit a record US$10.2 billion in 2020 and as of late May 2021 had already reached US$8 billion. A bulk of the funding is happening with US startups.
The number of applications like firewalls, identification verification and network security analysis that companies use are mushrooming, making it more and more difficult for them manage their cyber security.
“All of those things become blinking engine lights for a security operations center to have to contend with, and the volume of devices that’s coming on in the world…is only making that problem bigger and bigger,” said Michael DeCesare, who officially started as CEO of Exabeam on Tuesday.
“One of the biggest problems you have in security is the lack of talent. You don’t have enough people,” said Exabeam co-founder Nir Polak about why automation of cyber security was crucial at a time when the volume of hacking attacks is exploding.
The funding round was led by the Owl Rock division of Blue Owl Capital, an asset management firm with over US$52 billion under management.
Pravin Vazirani, managing director of Blue Owl Capital, said while there were a lot of cyber security startups appearing, many of them were getting bought up by bigger players.
He said his strategy was to find a company that could become a large standalone business in the cyber security space.
