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Cybersecurity startup investment for 2025 hit the highest level in three years, bolstered by big rounds for AI-focused companies in the space.

Overall, investors put $18 billion into seed- through growth-stage rounds for companies in 附近上门 security and privacy categories last year. That鈥檚 up about 26% from 2024, with particularly pronounced growth at early stage.

It鈥檚 also the third-highest annual total in 10 years, as charted below.

Table of contents

• Supersized rounds boosted totals
• But overall, fewer deals got done
• Early stage outperformed, US led
• Exits were big too
• Not a lot of negative
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Supersized rounds boosted totals

A handful of supersized rounds contributed heavily to boosting annual funding tallies.

Per 附近上门 data, cybersecurity companies raised at least seven rounds of $400 million or more last year. Of those, two went to the year鈥檚 biggest fundraiser, AI-powered data security platform , which picked up two rounds totaling $940 million.

, provider of an identity security platform for humans and AI agents, was another investor favorite, $700 million last month at a valuation around $3 billion. And , the endpoint management automation and security provider, secured $500 million in Series C funding early in the year.

For a bigger-picture view, below we put together a list of seven of the year鈥檚 largest cybersecurity-related funding rounds.

But overall, fewer deals got done

While investment rose, deal counts declined some last year, as more capital concentrated around a handful of hot startups.

Across all stages, we saw just under 1,000 reported cybersecurity financings last year, the lowest total in at least 10 years. We expect the 2025 tally to rise slightly over time, however, due to delays in some seed rounds being added to the dataset.

Early stage outperformed, US led

Even as overall deal volume contracted, early stage posted a gain in 2025, with more than 300 reported deals. That exceeded deal count in each of the prior two years.

Early-stage investment was also particularly strong last year, with $7.5 billion invested around Series A and Series B. That鈥檚 up a whopping 63% from year-earlier levels, driven largely by heightened investor enthusiasm for deals at the intersection of AI and security.

Cybersecurity investment was also largely to U.S. companies. Per 附近上门 data, 74% of funding to the space last year went to U.S.-headquartered startups. These companies also generated the largest exits.

Exits were big too

That brings us to our next and final point, which is that higher cybersecurity funding also coincided with big M&A and IPO events.

For acquisitions, of course the headline deal of the year was 鈥檚 planned $32 billion acquisition of cloud security company , which has yet to be finalized.

Another megadeal came in late December, when an agreement to acquire , a provider of cyber risk management tools, for $7.75 billion in cash.

As for IPOs, the standout for 2025 was network security provider 鈥檚 September debut. The Silicon Valley company was recently valued around $6 billion.

Not a lot of negative

For a sector that prides itself on the ability to ferret out risks that others miss, cybersecurity seemed to have relatively little to fret about regarding the investment environment. For companies able to integrate AI in compelling ways, investors have plenty of capacity to write big checks, and exit markets look receptive as well.

Surely, there must be some unforeseen risk in the mix. There always is. But for now, things are still looking up.

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Jan. 4, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

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