Venture capital investments to cybersecurity firms have been hitting a fever pitch. The influx of venture capital has been helped by a healthy exit environment within the cybersecurity space.
Using the interactive “Rankings” feature on CB Insights, we identified the top 10 venture-backed exits in cybersecurity (spanning from Internet security & monitorying to mobile security and device management to data and network security) since the start of 2012. Together, the 10 venture-backed companies exited for over $11B in aggregate value at the time of exit. Some of the firms have seen their value jump significantly higher in the public markets since, including FireEye which today sees a market cap of nearly $10 billion.
The top 10 by valuation at the time of exit was led by network security provider Palo Alto Networks, backed by investors including Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners. The second biggest exit was also a Sequoia portfolio firm, FireEye, and the top three was rounded out by VMWare’s recent $1B+ acquisition of Insight Venture Partners-backed mobile security firm AirWatch. Mandiant and Airwatch were both 2014 Tech IPO Pipeline companies. Mandiant was a significant exit for Kleiner Perkins which is getting some of is swagger back. Sequoia’s involvement in the top 2 exits in cybersecurity further underscores their investment prescience.
For more cybersecurity financing and exit data and interactive rankings, check out the CB Insights Venture Capital Database. Sign up for free below.
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