Accel Leads $100M Series B for Data Security Startup Cyera
Venture capital firm Accel led a $100 million Series B funding round for Israeli-based data security startup Cyera. Existing investors Sequoia and Cyberstarts, along with new investor Redpoint Ventures also joined the round.
The total raised is $160 million since emerging from stealth in March 2022.
Cyera reports it has gained many S&P 500 customers over the past year, while growing revenue by 800%. The company, which enables enterprises to harness the power of their data by providing security across their hybrid cloud environments, was founded by CEO Yotam Segev and CTO Tamar Bar-Ilan.
The platform uses large language models to automatically discover, classify, and secure sensitive data, everywhere. It identifies misconfigurations, recommends specific access controls and generates new policies for data security.
The fresh capital is particularly noteworthy in the context of the broader cybersecurity scene, which has been diminishing, at least in terms of VC investments. According to CrunchBase, funding for cybersecurity firms fell 58% in the first quarter compared with the first quarter 2022, with deal flow falling to 149 deals, the lowest in years and down 45% year-on-year.
Most recently, Accel led a $90 million Series C funding round for AI video creation platform Synthesia, which valued the company at $1 billion.