Investors have been chomping at the bit so far in 2021, creating a record-breaking* 12 galloping Unicorns to fight global cyber criminals.

Most recently, the end of April saw Vectra AI join the club, winning $130M in their latest funding round and a valuation of $1.2B.

In other news, UK stallion Darktrace went public, after a very thorough examination of its dental records.

*“A record was set in the first quarter of 2021, with 12 cybersecurity unicorns created globally, which is more than double the previous quarterly ” PitchBook (Private market data provider)

Vectra gains $130M funding and $1.2B valuation

Vectra AI, a cyber security, threat detection and response firm has announced an additional $130m round of funding.

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Darktrace shares jump 32% in IPO

Cambridge-based cyber security company Darktrace and its backers raise £165m in London debut.

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A unicorn on steroids

Wiz raises $130 million series B to reach $1.7 billion valuation a year after its launch

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Aqua Security hits unicorn valuation after completing $135 million series E

The Israeli cybersecurity company has stayed ahead of the cloud revolution, refuses to be sold and has it eyes on some acquisitions of its own.

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Orca Security raises $210 million, becomes ‘unicorn’ with $1.2 billion valuation

Google’s growth fund leads investment in the Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity firm set up 2 years ago by former execs of Check Point Software Technologies.

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New unicorn Axonius raises $100M to expand its cybersecurity asset management platform

Cybersecurity asset management startup Axonius Inc. today revealed it has raised $100 million in new funding on a unicorn valuation of above $1 billion.

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Automation for the people

Snyk raises $150 million at $1 billion valuation for AI that protects open source code.

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Lacework Banks $525 Million as Cloud Security Market Heats Up

Lacework, a five-year-old cybersecurity company that automates security across enterprise cloud deployments, has reached unicorn status with the closing of a $525 million round of Series D financing.

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These latest additions mean that there are now 31 Cyber Security Unicorns due to go public.

So what’s behind these huge valuations, is it set to continue – and what does it mean for the Cyber market in general?

Rather than dampen cyber spending, the rapid digitalisation caused by the pandemic has revealed worrying gaps in IT Infrastructure – further exposed by the accelerated move to Cloud and home working.

And it’s this exponential growth in demand that is causing investors to feel bullish and make sure they are on the right side of these major technological shifts.

Cyber is a huge growing market with healthy competition and – so far –  few monopolies to keep a lid on sky-high valuations, so the trend certainly seems set to continue.