Cybersecurity Startups Raise $6.8 Billion in Q3 as Round Counts Fall at Every Stage

Cybersecurity startups raised $6.8 billion in the third quarter of 2026, about 50 percent more than in the second quarter, while the number of rounds fell at every stage, Crunchbase News reported on Oct. 15.

The gain came from "larger rounds, not more of them," in Crunchbase's words. At least 18 cybersecurity and AI-security companies raised $100 million or more. Three rounds account for $1.8 billion of the total, which is more than a quarter of it.

The three rounds that carried the quarter

Keyfactor, the Ohio enterprise identity-security company founded in 2001, raised $1 billion in July in a growth round led by Summit Partners. Island, the Dallas company, raised $400 million in September in a Series F led by Evolution Equity Partners at a $6.4 billion post-money valuation. Cyera, in New York, raised $400 million in September led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity.

Crunchbase gives Cyera a $12 billion valuation and does not say whether that is pre- or post-money. It says Cyera raised $600 million three months earlier. If the $12 billion is post-money, the September round sold 3.3 percent of the company; Island's $400 million sold 6.3 percent. Both figures are my arithmetic from Crunchbase's numbers.

1. Keyfactor (July)1000 $ million
2. Island (September)400 $ million
3. Cyera (September)400 $ million

Source: Crunchbase News, Oct. 15, 2026

Visa's $2.4 billion BioCatch deal was announced, not closed

Crunchbase lists Visa's acquisition of the fraud-detection company BioCatch for $2.4 billion in August as the largest cybersecurity exit of the quarter. Reuters, reporting on Aug. 3, said Visa agreed to pay $2.4 billion in cash, with closing expected by the end of Visa's fiscal second quarter of 2027. The deal is therefore announced, and a quarterly exit tally that counts it is counting an agreement.

Reuters says BioCatch serves more than 350 banking clients in 21 countries, protects 1.8 billion devices and 760 million users, and that its revenue and gross profit each grew roughly threefold under Permira, which took a majority stake in 2024 that Reuters says was valued at $1.3 billion. Reuters does not say whether that figure covers the stake or the whole company, so no step-up multiple can be drawn from it. It gives no absolute revenue for BioCatch either, so no sales multiple can be computed.

Andrew Torre, president of value-added services at Visa, said "account takeovers and scams cost the global economy over $1 trillion annually."

Other deals in the tally

Deal	Value	Status per source
Visa buys BioCatch	$2.4 billion cash	Agreed Aug. 3; close by end of Visa fiscal Q2 2027 (Reuters)
Cyera buys Oasis Security	about $1 billion, reportedly	Crunchbase says reportedly
Aura completes Qoria purchase	not stated	Completed July (Crunchbase)

Crunchbase describes Aura, in Boston, as the lone sizable venture-backed market debut of the quarter, after it finished buying the Australian public company Qoria and renamed the combined company Aura.

The sums at the small end are of a different order. Consus, a one-person YC company, sells an LLM gateway at $40 a seat, and Infotech bought Zluri at an undisclosed price. The next data point is Visa's closing, due by the end of its fiscal second quarter of 2027.