San Francisco cybersecurity investors sponsoring security startups in 2026

San Francisco closed $8.4B in cybersecurity deals across 180+ companies in 2025. That's 40% more than Austin and Miami combined. Cloud security and identity took most of the capital. Zero-trust and AI security are getting funded at pre-revenue. You'll compete with 50+ companies raising each quarter, but check sizes are bigger here than anywhere else.

Quick list

Why San Francisco for cybersecurity funding

San Francisco has 60+ active cybersecurity investors. That's triple Austin's count. Average Series A is $15-25M, compared to $8-12M in other markets. Most national security funds have partners based here.

The talent density matters. Every cybersecurity startup competes for the same 200 senior engineers from Palo Alto Networks, Cisco, and Cloudflare. Investors expect your founding team includes people from these companies. Pure academic founders struggle here unless they have a technical co-founder from industry.

Enterprise buyers are local. Box, Salesforce, Adobe, and dozens of unicorns test security tools here first. Investors value this because you can iterate faster. But competition is brutal. You'll pitch against 5-10 companies solving similar problems, all with strong teams.

Picking the right San Francisco cybersecurity investor

Cybersecurity expertise: Generic enterprise VCs won't understand why your zero-trust architecture differs from Zscaler. You need investors who've backed 10+ security companies and can challenge your threat model. Ask which CISOs they can intro you to.

Check sizes: SF seed rounds for cybersecurity run $3-7M, Series A is $15-25M, Series B is $30-60M. Those numbers are 2x higher than most markets. If you're raising less, you're signaling something's wrong or you're too early.

Stage focus: Some funds only do seed, others start at Series A with $20M minimums. ClearSky and Ballistic won't take your meeting below $10M ARR. YL Ventures and Boldstart will back you pre-revenue if the team is right.

Enterprise connections: The best SF security investors can intro you to CISOs at Fortune 500 companies. ForgePoint and Team8 have deep enterprise networks. That's worth more than their capital in early stages.

Portfolio conflicts: Check if they've backed your competitor. Most security VCs won't do two identity companies or two cloud security plays. They'll pass even if you're better because they can't support both.

Communication: Use Ellty to share your deck with unique links for each investor. You'll see which partners actually review your threat landscape slides versus just skimming the executive summary. Most SF security investors look at 100+ decks monthly.

Technical depth: SF cybersecurity investors expect you to explain your architecture in detail. They'll bring technical partners to first meetings. Have your CTO ready to defend design decisions. Share technical documentation through Ellty data rooms before second meetings.

How to find and approach San Francisco cybersecurity investors

Research cybersecurity deals: Check Crunchbase for every security funding announcement in SF from 2024-2025. You'll see which investors actually write checks versus just taking meetings. Look at the Series A investors - those are your targets if you're raising seed because they follow-on.

Leverage RSA Conference: RSA runs in SF every April. Half the cybersecurity investors attend. Book meetings two months early. The conference itself is noise, but the side meetings close deals. Ballistic, ForgePoint, and Team8 all have partner dinners during RSA week.

Start with friendly VCs: Get warm intros from portfolio founders. Cold emails to SF security investors have 2% response rates. Warm intros from their successful portfolio companies get 60% response rates. Find founders on LinkedIn who raised from your target investors and ask for intros.

Share your deck strategically: Upload to Ellty and create separate links for each fund. SF investors talk to each other constantly. You'll know who's forwarding your deck to partners at other firms by checking view analytics. When multiple partners from the same firm view specific slides, that's your signal they're discussing internally.

Attend SFCISO events: SF CISO community runs monthly meetups. These aren't pitch events but relationship builders. Investors scout here for founding teams. Show up, don't pitch, just talk about threat landscapes. You'll meet investors naturally.

Connect with technical advisors: SF security investors trust recommendations from specific CISOs and security researchers. Find advisors at Okta, Cloudflare, or Palo Alto Networks. Their intro to a VC carries more weight than most founder referrals.

Set up data rooms early: Before you start taking meetings, create an Ellty data room with your technical architecture docs, compliance certifications, and early customer contracts. SF security investors move fast once they see product-market fit. Having everything ready cuts two weeks off your timeline.

Understand the pace: SF cybersecurity deals close in 6-12 weeks from first meeting to term sheet. That's faster than most verticals but slower than consumer. Investors want to see customer traction with 2-3 enterprise POCs. Plan your pipeline so you can show progress between partner meetings. Fundraising momentum depends on consistency as much as traction.

San Francisco-specific considerations

SF cybersecurity investors expect you to hire here or have strong technical talent in the Bay Area. They'll pass if your entire engineering team is remote in lower-cost markets, even if that makes financial sense. They want to see your engineers at their portfolio company offices.

Competition changes your pitch. You can't just explain what you do. You need to explain why you'll win against 5-10 funded competitors. SF investors have seen every security category get crowded. They need conviction you'll capture market share.

Valuations are 30-50% higher than other markets, but dilution is similar because rounds are bigger. Your $20M Series A at $80M post is equivalent to a $12M Series A at $48M post elsewhere. Don't optimize for ownership percentage, optimize for capital to compete.

18 top cybersecurity investors in San Francisco

1. Ballistic Ventures

One of the few cybersecurity-only funds that actually understands technical architecture.

• Recent Deals: SecurityScorecard $180M Series D (2025), Cyera $100M Series C (2024), Grip Security $41M Series B (2024)
• LinkedIn: Ted Schlein
• Sector Focus: Cloud security, zero-trust, identity and access management, data security
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: Financial District, San Francisco
• Website: ballisticventures.com

2. ClearSky Security

Former CISOs who actually understand enterprise buyer pain points.

• Recent Deals: Hunters Security $68M Series C (2025), Stream Security $30M Series A (2024), Protect AI $35M Series B (2024)
• LinkedIn: Jay Leek
• Sector Focus: SOC automation, cloud security, AI security, threat detection
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, growth
• Office Location: South Park, San Francisco
• Website: clearsky.vc

3. ForgePoint Capital

Deep government and enterprise relationships from decades in security.

• Recent Deals: Material Security $100M Series C (2025), Cequence Security $60M Series C (2024), Illumio $225M Series F (2024)
• LinkedIn: Alberto Yépez
• Sector Focus: Enterprise security, email security, application security, network security
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: Presidio, San Francisco
• Website: forgepointcap.com

4. YL Ventures

Israeli-founded fund that backs technical founders before they have revenue.

• Recent Deals: Valence Security $7M seed (2025), Spera Security $10M Series A (2024), Talon Cyber Security $26M Series A (2023)
• LinkedIn: Yoav Leitersdorf
• Sector Focus: Identity security, SaaS security, cloud security, zero-trust
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: SOMA, San Francisco
• Website: ylventures.com

5. Team8

Well-connected Israeli fund with strong enterprise CISO network in SF.

• Recent Deals: Sygnia growth round (2025), Talon Cyber $100M Series C (2024), Claroty $100M Series D (2024)
• LinkedIn: Liran Grinberg
• Sector Focus: Incident response, endpoint security, industrial security, cloud security
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Financial District, San Francisco
• Website: team8.vc

6. Boldstart Ventures

Day-one investors who back technical founders pre-product.

• Recent Deals: Talon Cyber Security $26M Series A (2023), BigID $70M Series D (2023), Snyk growth rounds (multiple years)
• LinkedIn: Ed Sim
• Sector Focus: Infrastructure security, developer security, cloud security, identity
• Stage Focus: Pre-seed, seed, Series A
• Office Location: SOMA, San Francisco
• Website: boldstart.vc

7. Wing Venture Capital

Infrastructure-focused fund that backs security tools for DevOps teams.

• Recent Deals: Cado Security $40M Series B (2025), Hunters Security $68M Series C (2025), Axonius $200M Series E (2024)
• LinkedIn: Peter Wagner
• Sector Focus: Cloud forensics, security operations, asset management, infrastructure security
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: Palo Alto (Bay Area)
• Website: wing.vc

8. Cyberstarts

Early-stage fund run by former Unit 8200 members who understand offensive security.

• Recent Deals: Spyderbat $10M seed (2024), Valence Security $7M seed (2025), Aqua Security growth rounds (multiple)
• LinkedIn: Gili Raanan
• Sector Focus: Runtime security, cloud security, identity, application security
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto (Bay Area)
• Website: cyberstarts.com

9. Ten Eleven Ventures

National security fund with deep DoD and intelligence community connections.

• Recent Deals: DoControl $30M Series B (2024), Seerist $35M Series B (2024), Cobalt.io $29M Series B (2023)
• LinkedIn: Mark Rauenhorst
• Sector Focus: SaaS security, threat intelligence, pentesting, data security
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Menlo Park (Bay Area)
• Website: 1011vc.com

10. SYN Ventures

Technical investors who understand application security at code level.

• Recent Deals: Oligo Security $28M Series A (2024), Apiiro $100M Series C (2024), ArmorCode $40M Series B (2023)
• LinkedIn: Jay Leek
• Sector Focus: Application security, supply chain security, code security, API security
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B
• Office Location: SOMA, San Francisco
• Website: synventures.com

11. Costanoa Ventures

Enterprise infrastructure fund that backs security as part of broader thesis.

• Recent Deals: Nightfall AI $40M Series B (2024), Vanta $150M Series C (2023), Nudge Security $17M Series A (2024)
• LinkedIn: Greg Sands
• Sector Focus: Data security, compliance automation, SaaS security, cloud security
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Palo Alto (Bay Area)
• Website: costanoavc.com

12. Gradient Ventures

Google's AI fund that backs security companies using ML for threat detection.

• Recent Deals: Abnormal Security $250M Series D (2024), Harmonic Security $25M Series A (2024), 1Password growth rounds (multiple)
• LinkedIn: Darian Shirazi
• Sector Focus: AI security, email security, identity, threat detection
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Mountain View (Bay Area)
• Website: gradient.com

13. Icon Ventures

Enterprise-focused fund that backs security for cloud infrastructure.

• Recent Deals: Stream Security $30M Series A (2024), Cycode $56M Series B (2024), Armorblox acquired by Cisco (2023)
• LinkedIn: Michael Feinberg
• Sector Focus: Cloud security, supply chain security, DevSecOps, infrastructure security
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Portola Valley (Bay Area)
• Website: iconventures.com

14. DataTribe

National security veterans who back technical founders from government background.

• Recent Deals: Apozy $13M Series A (2024), BluBracket acquired by Snyk (2023), Virtru growth rounds (multiple)
• LinkedIn: Michael Janke
• Sector Focus: Data security mesh, encryption, zero-trust, secure communications
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: San Francisco (Maryland HQ, SF office)
• Website: datatribe.com

15. Evolution Equity Partners

Growth-stage fund that backs profitable security companies scaling revenue.

• Recent Deals: Grip Security $41M Series B (2024), Hunters Security growth rounds (multiple), Orca Security $550M Series D (2023)
• LinkedIn: Chris Douvos
• Sector Focus: SaaS security posture, cloud security, security operations, compliance
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: Menlo Park (Bay Area)
• Website: evolutionequity.com

16. Bloomberg Beta

Early-stage fund that backs machine learning tools for security teams.

• Recent Deals: Vanta early rounds (2020-2021), Weights & Biases security features (2023), Kelsus acquired (2024)
• LinkedIn: James Cham
• Sector Focus: Compliance automation, ML security, infrastructure security, developer tools
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: SOMA, San Francisco
• Website: bloombergbeta.com

17. Engineering Capital

Technical fund run by former CTOs who understand security architecture decisions.

• Recent Deals: Multiple infrastructure security startups in stealth (2024-2025), portfolio not fully public
• LinkedIn: Ashmeet Sidana
• Sector Focus: Infrastructure security, cloud security, developer security, open source security
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto (Bay Area)
• Website: engineering.capital

18. Uplift Security

Security-specific fund that invests in identity and access management startups.

• Recent Deals: Multiple early-stage identity companies (portfolio not fully disclosed), focus on IAM infrastructure
• LinkedIn: Andy Ellis
• Sector Focus: Identity and access management, zero-trust, authentication, authorization
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: San Francisco
• Website: upliftsecurity.com

Start tracking your San Francisco cybersecurity investor outreach

These 18 investors closed 200+ cybersecurity deals in San Francisco in 2024-2025. Before you email anyone, set up tracking so you know who's actually interested versus being polite.

Upload your deck to Ellty and create unique links for each SF investor. You'll see exactly which slides they review and how long they spend on your threat model versus your team slides. SF cybersecurity investors often skip the problem slides because they already know the pain points, but they'll spend 10 minutes on your architecture and competitive positioning.

When SF investors ask for technical documentation or customer contracts, share an Ellty data room instead of Dropbox folders. Your security architecture diagrams, compliance certifications, and early customer contracts in one place with view analytics. You'll know which partners reviewed your technical docs before the deep-dive meeting.

Common questions

Do I need to be based in San Francisco to raise from SF cybersecurity investors?

Not technically, but it helps. SF investors expect your technical co-founder or CTO to be local. They want to meet multiple times before writing checks. Remote-first security companies get funded but usually after they have $1M+ ARR to prove the model works.

How does San Francisco compare to other markets for cybersecurity funding?

SF has 3x more cybersecurity investors than Austin or NYC. Average check sizes are 2x larger. But competition is brutal. You'll pitch against better-funded teams with more experienced founders. If you can't compete here, raise elsewhere then relocate after Series A.

What's the average seed round size for cybersecurity in SF?

$3-7M for true seed rounds led by funds like YL Ventures or Boldstart. Some companies call their first $15M round "seed" but that's really Series A. Don't confuse the two. If you're raising less than $3M, you're either too early or should look at other markets.

Should I raise locally in SF or go straight to national security funds?

National funds like Ballistic and ForgePoint are based in SF, so there's no distinction. The question is whether to raise from general enterprise VCs versus security specialists. Pick security specialists every time. They understand your category and can help with CISO intros.

Do SF cybersecurity investors expect in-person meetings?

First meetings can be Zoom. Second meetings need to be in-person. If you're asking for $15M+ and won't fly to SF for partner meetings, they'll assume you're not serious. Final partnership meetings before term sheets are always in their offices.

What cybersecurity sectors get funded most in SF?

Cloud security took 35% of SF cybersecurity capital in 2025. Identity and zero-trust took another 25%. AI security is emerging but most investors want to see revenue before funding pure AI security plays. Application security and data security are consistent but crowded categories.

How long does it take to close a cybersecurity round in SF?

6-12 weeks from first meeting to signed term sheet if you have customer traction. Add another 4-6 weeks for legal diligence and wire transfer. Budget three months total. If investors want to move faster, that's usually good signal. If they want more time, you're probably their backup option.