¸½½üÉÏÃÅ

Tuesday saw not one, but two new unicorns minted in the cybersecurity space as both and joined the herd.

Managed detection and response firm eSentire, based in Waterloo, Ontario, closed a $325 million round at a valuation of more than $1 billion through an agreement with and . The round is the third-largest raised by a Canadian company this year, behind only fellow cybersecurity company $620 million Series C, and SaaS-based compliance solution provider $350 million Series D—both last month—according to ¸½½üÉÏÃÅ data.

In addition, multifactor authentication developer Beyond Identity on Tuesday locked down a $100 million Series C led by that values the  New York-based company at $1.1 billion.

Beyond Identity and eSentire become the fifth and sixth unicorns minted this calendar year, and the third and fourth ones this month in cybersecurity, according to ¸½½üÉÏÃÅ data. Earlier this month, and reached that status, and in January and were minted.

This month has not just seen a growing herd of unicorns in cyber. Last week, announced a raise of more than $1 billion from —the second-largest round by a U.S.-based, VC-backed company this calendar year—behind ‘s $1.35 billion raise earlier this month, according to ¸½½üÉÏÃÅ data.

The company, which offers security information and event management and extended detection and response capabilities, declined to give a valuation.

The amount of newly minted unicorns and large rounds seems to indicate 2022 could be a banner year for security—even after a record-breaking 2021 that saw more than $20 billion invested in the space.

Illustration: