Ballistic Ventures announced the closing of its oversubscribed $360 million second fund. Fund II for Ballistic Ventures reinforces the firm’s commitment to fund and incubate entrepreneurs and innovations exclusively focused on the future of cybersecurity.
Ballistic Ventures, led by Founding Partners Kevin Mandia, Barmak Meftah, Ted Schlein, Jake Seid, and Roger Thornton, has collectively founded, funded, or operated over 100 cybersecurity firms.
Since Ballistic Ventures launched two years ago and the closing of its inaugural $300 million fund, the firm has now invested in 18 companies focused on challenges like safeguarding the use of AI, mitigating disinformation, and securing applications, code, connected devices, data, identity, SaaS services, and more. And Ballistic also supported the successful exit of portfolio company Talon Cyber Security (acquired by Palo Alto Networks).
Ballistic Ventures also announced the promotion of Agnes So to Chief Financial Officer. Before Ballistic, So spent over a decade at Kleiner Perkins and Westlake Village BioPartners, where she played a key role in financial management and investment strategies. And she also brings a wealth of experience from her time as an auditor at Deloitte.
KEY QUOTES:
“A record-paced technological evolution is happening right before our eyes. Coupled with the dynamics of an election year at home and conflicts unfolding across the world, the imperative for robust cybersecurity has never been more clear. Until we achieve global peace, cybersecurity is too important of an issue to ignore. For us, closing a new fund further fuels our commitment to addressing cyber challenges head-on, and we’re looking for visionary entrepreneurs who share our passion and want to partner with us on this critical mission.”
– General Partner Ted Schlein
“The Ballistic team has been everything Alethea could have asked for in a partner and more. They’ve been instrumental to our company’s growth and expertly understand the evolving digital and information environment that we live in. Ballistic shares our philosophy that the biggest security risks to organizations are external threats targeting key assets like shareholder value, brand and reputation, and employee safety. We built our product because we needed to create a technology that didn’t exist, and Ballistic’s support, willingness to leverage its network, and strategic guidance has been invaluable in our efforts to solve one of the world’s biggest challenges.”
– Lisa Kaplan, Founder and CEO of Alethea
“With the deep cybersecurity roots that the Ballistic partners possess, the team has touched almost every major innovation in our field. Their blend of both operational and experienced venture backgrounds makes it hard to find a comparable set of investors in our space.”
– Oliver Friedrichs, Co-founder and CEO of Pangea
“Ballistic has what many firms do not: the knowledge, experiences, and scars of founding and running cybersecurity companies. I’d argue this combination is near-impossible to find anywhere else, and each member of the Ballistic team continues to find ways to support us on our journey to building an enduring company.”
– Garrett Hamilton, Co-founder and CEO of Reach Security
“Since day one of our collaboration with Ballistic, they’ve had an unwavering belief in our product and team, fueling our journey and matching our enthusiasm to build something great. We formed an invaluable partnership with Ballistic, and I’m excited to see fellow entrepreneurs get the chance to work with this incredible team to grow companies that will shape our industry for years to come.”
– Ofer Ben-Noon, Co-founder and CEO of Talon
