How to Find Investors for a Cybersecurity Startup: Stage Mix, States and Fund Sizes

By Muhammad Tayyab Shabbir. Last updated 10 Nov 2026. Data as of November 2026. Markdown version

To find investors for a cybersecurity startup, start from our list of 316 cybersecurity investors and narrow it by stage, place and fund size. Seed is the stage they name most (205 of the 282 with a stage on file), ahead of Series A. About two thirds are in the US, where California leads with 83. The median fund on file from SEC Form D is $75M, well above the $50M for every investor we hold with such a figure.

Among the 39 sectors we can compare, cybersecurity is one of 9 tied for the third highest median fund size on SEC Form D: $75M, against $50M for every investor we hold with such a figure. Among the 37 sectors we can compare, cybersecurity has the fourth lowest share of investors that name pre-seed: 32%, against 39% across the database. By type, the 316 are 284 VC firms, 14 corporate venture arms, 5 fund managers, 5 angel networks and 4 accelerators, with 4 of other types. The tags these investors most often carry beside cybersecurity are AI (260), SaaS and B2B software (253) and fintech (127).

What do cybersecurity investors look for?

A security pitch is read by people who have seen many, so it has to say what it stops that was not stopped before. Investors look for early customers who will speak for the product, a clear buyer inside the company and a reason the large platforms will not add the feature themselves.

• Who are your design partners? A handful of security teams using the product and shaping it is a strong early signal.
• Who signs, and what does it replace? A new budget line is harder to win than a tool that takes the place of one already paid for.
• Why can a platform vendor not build this? The answer is the heart of the investment case.

Which stage do cybersecurity investors back?

Among the 282 of the 316 with a stage on file (a firm can state several), seed comes first with 205 (73%), then Series A (118), growth (92), pre-seed (90) and Series B (65). Set against every investor we hold, the group leans toward Series B (23% here, 14% overall) and away from pre-seed (32% here, 39% overall). With about three quarters naming seed, a seed round has the widest field on this list.

Where are cybersecurity investors based?

About two thirds of the list is American: 216 of the 316 are in the US, 34 in the UK and 64 in the rest of Europe. Among the 212 US investors with a state on file, California holds about two fifths (83), more than its 36% share of all US investors we hold. New York is a distant second with 33, then Texas (14) and Massachusetts (12). Virginia stands out: it holds 4% of this group and 1% of all US investors.

By city, counting the head offices of every type of investor, the largest groups are New York (29), San Francisco (23), Palo Alto (19) and Menlo Park (11).

Metro area lists for this sector, each with its own row count: Cybersecurity investors in Silicon Valley (45).

The same investors as lists by region: Cybersecurity venture capital firms in the US (214), Cybersecurity investors in the UK (34), Cybersecurity investors in Europe (64).

How big are cybersecurity funds?

Across the 172 of the 316 cybersecurity investors with a fund size from SEC Form D on file, the median is $75M, well above the $50M for every investor we hold with such a figure. About a fifth of these funds are under $25M and 46% are $100M or more. The figure is the fund as filed, not a check size, and a firm's main fund on our record, which is not always its newest; for 31 of the 172 the offering amount is indefinite, so it is the amount sold so far.

Which cybersecurity investors can you look at first?

Security is backed by specialist funds and by generalists who invest in it now and then. A specialist can introduce you to buyers, which matters in a market sold on trust. Mark which names on the list are specialists, and write to them first.

The 5 firms below are among the free rows of our list of cybersecurity venture capital firms in the US (214): each names the sector in its own description, and they stand in that list's order, by our activity score, which is no measure of quality.

• Jump Capital

  HQ: Chicago, Illinois · Type: VC firm · Stages (our research): Seed, Series A · Latest activity: New deal, Oct 2026 (our research) · Private fund assets: $456M (SEC Form ADV)

  Chicago early stage venture firm investing in applied AI, AI infrastructure, cybersecurity and fintech, investing from its $350M eighth fund.

• Mindset Consulting (US)

  HQ: San Francisco, California · Type: VC firm · Stages (our research): Seed, Series A · Latest activity: Portfolio news, Sep 2026 (our research) · Private fund assets: $129M (SEC Form ADV)

  Global early-stage venture firm, operating as Mindset Ventures, investing in AI-native B2B startups across financial services, healthcare, cybersecurity and enterprise software. Based in San Francisco, CA.

• Evolution

  HQ: New York, New York · Type: VC firm · Stages (our research): Seed, Series A, Series B, Growth · Latest activity: Form D filing, Sep 2026 · Fund size on file: $1.2B (SEC Form D, 2026)

  New York cybersecurity venture capital investor led by technology entrepreneurs, backing companies from seed through growth.

• Felicis

  HQ: Menlo Park, California · Type: VC firm · Stages (our research): Seed, Series A · Latest activity: New deal, Oct 2026 (our research) · Fund size on file: $900M (SEC Form D, 2025)

  Menlo Park venture capital firm backing founders from seed, with most investments at seed or Series A, across AI, cybersecurity and defence, resilience and energy, and health and bio.

• Blu Ventures

  HQ: Arlington, Virginia · Type: VC firm · Stages (our research): Seed · Latest activity: Form D filing, Jun 2026 · Private fund assets: $215M (SEC Form ADV)

  Blu Ventures is an early-stage venture fund run by former operators, focused on cybersecurity with some health technology investments, investing across the United States. Based in Arlington, VA.

Which US cybersecurity investors filed with the SEC most recently?

97 of the 216 US cybersecurity investors (45%) have a Form D filing dated in the 12 months to 6 Nov 2026, a first notice or the yearly amendment of an older fund, above the 38% for all US investors we hold. Our file of new fund notices for the 8 weeks to 6 Nov 2026 holds 36 from 24 of these investors, among them Steel Atlas, Ballistic Ventures and Crystal Venture Partners.

What should a cybersecurity founder have ready before the first email?

A security company is judged on who trusts it already, so open with customers.

• Design partners and paying customers, with the size of the security team at each.
• What the product replaced, or which budget paid for it.
• The audit reports and certifications you hold, such as SOC 2.

Words cybersecurity investors use

CISO

Chief information security officer: the usual buyer of a security product.

Design partner

An early customer that helps shape the product, often before it has a price.

SOC 2

An audit report on how a company protects customer data, often asked for before a sale.

Proof of concept

A time-limited trial inside the customer's own systems.

A common slip. Leading with the threat. The reader knows the threat and wants to know why your team and your approach will win the account.

How do you reach cybersecurity investors?

95% of the list has a named decision-maker on file (299 of 316, 1,578 names in all), above the 84% across the whole database. About two fifths have a firm email address (123), and 81 publish how they want to be pitched, such as a form or an application page.

Use a pitch route where a firm publishes one, and otherwise write to one named person at a time, starting from the free outreach email templates; the full list is Cybersecurity investors, all 316 investors, one per row, the first 25 free to read, and the matching tool opens with cybersecurity already picked.

This list has 316 rows and a single-list file covers up to 300, so its rows are sold inside the Global Bundle file.

Questions