Cybersecurity
A $248B market growing whether or not the broader venture cycle does — and one of the furthest categories from a "hot sector" fad.
projected global cybersecurity market, 2026
78% of business and technology executives plan to increase cyber spending in 2026.
capital deployed across 340+ deals, Q1 2026
12% increase in dollar volume year-over-year, despite an 8% drop in deal count.
YoY growth in AI-native security funding
$4.1B total — the fastest-growing subcategory in the sector.
Inside the category
Software supply-chain & data security
Protecting the software build pipeline and the data flowing through it, a category that boomed after several high-profile supply-chain breaches.
- Chainguard
- Vanta
- Cyberhaven
AI-native security operations
AI-driven detection, response and enterprise-browser security tools — the fastest-growing subcategory.
- Island
- Torq
- Dream Security
Why this fits women investors specifically
Cybersecurity spend is famously non-discretionary — enterprises cut marketing budgets before they cut security budgets — which gives the category a defensiveness that fits a security-over-returns thesis. Women hold roughly a quarter of cybersecurity jobs globally, a talent pipeline that both feeds founder and operator ranks and remains underrepresented in the investor seats writing the cheques.
How to get exposure
Angel and syndicate access exists at seed, but cybersecurity increasingly rewards domain expertise in diligence — enterprise sales cycles and technical differentiation are harder to evaluate from the outside than in consumer categories. LP exposure through a fund with a dedicated security practice (again, this directory’s Acrew Capital is one example) substitutes specialist diligence for individual judgment.
The case against
The category is crowded — hundreds of point-solution vendors compete for the same enterprise security budgets, and consolidation (acquisition by platform players, or simple business failure) is a more common outcome than breakout independent scale. AI-native security specifically is moving fast enough that today’s technical edge can be commoditized within a product cycle or two.
How this category returns capital
Strategic acquisition by the handful of large security platforms (and by cloud hyperscalers building out native security suites) is the dominant exit path, alongside a smaller number of public listings for category leaders. Because enterprise security contracts are sticky once won, acquirers pay for real revenue and retention more than for narrative.
What to weigh before writing a cheque
- Point solutions face real platform-consolidation risk — ask what happens to a company’s roadmap if a hyperscaler ships a "good enough" native competitor.
- Enterprise security sales cycles are long; growth metrics that look impressive at seed can mask a slower path to material revenue than consumer categories.
Sources
Figures reflect the most recent public reporting as of 2026. Named companies are illustrative of funding activity, not investment recommendations.