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Cybersecurity may not be grabbing the spotlight in a startup funding landscape still driven by mega-rounds for AI leaders. Still, venture capital flowing into the sector is staying at historically elevated levels through 2026.
That conclusion comes from an analysis of worldwide investment during the first half of the year, covering companies in Crunchbase’s security and privacy industry categories. Altogether, startups in this group raised $10.6 billion across all stages, roughly on par with recent comparable periods.
Slower in Q2
The opening quarter of 2026 saw stronger funding activity than the second. In Q2, privacy and cybersecurity startups collected $4.4 billion in seed through growth-stage financing. That amount was about 30% lower than both the preceding quarter and the same quarter a year earlier, with the number of rounds also dropping by a similar percentage, as shown in the chart below.
Because the prior two quarters were especially strong for cybersecurity funding, a moderate Q2 decline does not look like a worrying signal. What’s more, the quarter still produced a noteworthy number of mega-rounds, including eight deals of $100 million or more.
Standout fundraisers
The top funding recipient in Q2 was Cyera, a company creating AI-powered enterprise security tools with a strong emphasis on AI agents. The New York-based startup raised $600 million at a $12 billion valuation in a June round headed by Evolution Equity Partners.
NinjaOne, which offers an endpoint management platform, also stood out by raising more than $400 million in a Series C extension. The investment valued the Austin-based company at $12.3 billion.
Dream, a three-year-old Israeli startup describing itself as an AI and cyber defense provider for governments and critical infrastructure, secured another substantial round, closing $260 million at a $3 billion valuation. For a wider perspective, below we list five of the quarter’s largest security-related financings:
Exits
Along with raising capital, security startups also generated exits in Q
