Cyera, a leading data security company, has raised $300 million in Series C funding at a $1.4 billion valuation. The funding round was led by Coatue and was joined by new investors Spark Capital, Georgian, and AT&T Ventures, alongside significant investment by all existing investors Sequoia, Accel, Redpoint, and Cyberstarts. The company was founded in 2021 by Yotam Segev (CEO) and Tamar Bar-Ilan (CTO) and has now secured a total of $460 million to date.
As AI adoption accelerates, data has become the lifeblood and most critical asset of every modern enterprise. However, it has also become the largest and fastest-growing attack surface for bad actors to compromise. This has created a massive need for a single platform to defend and govern data. Cyera provides the foundation for any data security program with its Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) solution. To secure data, it is crucial to know where it is, who can access it, and how valuable it is. Without Cyera, all organizations struggle to answer these questions.
Enterprises are now required to answer these questions due to customer contracts, disclosure regulations, and new Securities and Exchange Commission requirements. These requirements state that organizations must report a breach within four days of determining a material incident. Cyera brings everything an enterprise needs to build and operate a data security program on one platform, protecting the organization’s most important asset.
“The funding we secured will support us as we continue to build atop the industry’s best data security platform, and look to expand our team globally. This will be critical to accomplishing our goal of enabling security teams to run their data security programs successfully,” said Yotam Segev, Co-Founder and CEO at Cyera. “CIOs and CISOs are realizing it is critical that they secure all of their enterprise data as an absolute necessity in order to thrive and survive in a new AI-driven world. Cyera is working closely and solving this problem for the world’s largest enterprises.
“The customer’s reactions to Cyera as a platform remind me of our early days at ServiceNow,” said David Schneider, General Partner at Coatue Management. “I am confident that Cyera will grow to become a key part of enterprise’s data security, which is so crucial with the advent of AI.”
“Cyera offers an enterprise data security solution that stands out in the industry,” said Pete Chronis, CISO of Paramount. “Its data classification accuracy, comprehensive technology coverage, and user-friendly interface surpasses similar solutions.”
The demand for Cyera is rapidly increasing due to several reasons. Firstly, Gartner has predicted that generative AI like ChatGPT and CoPilot will be widely adopted by 2026. Secondly, there has been a record-high number of cyberattacks reported by the Identity Theft Resource Center in 2023, which has led to stricter regulations. Lastly, IDC has projected exponential growth in the Global Datasphere, going from 33 zettabytes in 2018 to 175 zettabytes by 2025. These trends highlight the urgent need for solutions like Cyera to navigate the evolving landscape of AI, data innovation, security, and privacy.
“When I first met with the Cyera team, it was evident that they were very passionate, and had extensive knowledge of the security space. Since then, their team has continued to grow stronger and more innovative,” said Doug Leone, Partner at Sequoia. “Their drive to build a long-lasting company will enable Cyera to take the lead in the market of AI-driven data security.”
“Having partnered with the Cyera team at inception, it has been exceptional to see their growth and evolvement, constantly solving for the most pressing challenges in the market in a profound way,” said Lior Simon, General Partner at Cyberstarts. “Cyera solves the principles of cybersecurity, securing data; any type, anywhere. This is the key pillar to serve and enable the advancement and adoption of AI.”
Cyera has announced the appointment of Jason Clark as the Chief Strategy Officer to capitalize on its growth. Clark, who was formerly the Chief Security Officer & Chief Strategy Officer at Netskope, has been advising Cyera since its inception as part of his role at VC firm Cyberstarts. With over 30 years of experience, Clark has held multiple CSO/Go-To-Market leadership positions at organizations such as Optiv, Forcepoint, Emerson Electric, and The New York Times Company. He has a proven track record of driving significant company growth and category creation.