Among the top performing tech IPOs of 2013 to date has been FireEye, the network security firm that has doubled since its Nasdaq debut and which represents a coup for its venture investors including Sequoia Capital and Norwest Venture Partners. FireEye hasn’t been the only notable exit in the cybersecurity space recently: In the past four quarters, 78 cybersecurity firms have exited via M&A or IPO.
With the increase in exits and many favorable outcomes, venture investors have taken note. Collectively, nearly $1.4B in venture capital funding has gone into the cybersecurity space over the last year. But behind the recent frenzy are a group of investors more bullish, and successful, in the cybersecurity marketplace than the rest. And so we used the new interactive Rankings feature on CB Insights to rank investors in the cybersecurity space based on financing deals and total exits since the start of 2012. Below are the results.
Topping the list of most active cybersecurity investors since 2012 are Silicon Valley heavyweights Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Andreessen Horowitz with thirteen investments each. KPCB’s recent cybersecurity financing rounds include AlienVault and Ionic Security. KPCB also participated in a 2011 round of funding to Mandiant, the Alexandria, Va.-based information security firm that exposed China’s army unit in hacking U.S. corporations and government agencies. Andreessen Horowitz, meanwhile, has recently participated in a number of early-stage cybersecurity deals including Series A rounds to BlueBox, Pindrop Security and CipherCloud.
Coming in at #3 among the most active investors in cybersecurity is Intel Capital. While Intel acquired cybersecurity software provider McAfee in 2011, its corporate venture arm has been busy investing – and recording exits – in the cybersecurity space. Peeling back investors by IPO and M&A exits, we see that Intel Capital has recorded the highest number of cybersecurity exits among investors since the start of 2012. Among Intel Capital’s recent cybersecurity exits include data security firm Credant Technologies (acquired by Dell) as well as Solera Networks (acquired by Blue Coat Systems. Palo Alto-based Jafco Ventures takes second, with recent exits including device recognition startup 41st Parameter (acquired by Experian) and the IPOs of FireEye and Palo Alto Networks.
