• Cyera believes that the next big challenge in enterprise data protection will be AI.
  • Cyera finalizing a round of nearly $300 million, tripling its valuation to $1.5 billion in the process.
  • This round sheds new light on the huge role AI is playing in the technology market today.

A cybersecurity startup called Cyera believes that the next big challenge for enterprise data protection will be artificial intelligence. The company is raising a large sum of money as the need for AI increases.

Cybersecurity startup Cyera

According to TechCrunch, Cyera, which builds AI-enhanced tools to create accurate pictures of where and how data is being used in organizations’ networks is close to finalizing a round of nearly $300 million, tripling its valuation to $1.5 billion in the process. Storied venture firm Coatue is leading the round of funding.

The deal is expected to close in early April. It is unclear which other investors participated in the round.

Before that, this San Mateo-based company with roots in Israel had raised a total of $160 million with its current $500 million valuation dating from last year.

Also read: Cryptography startup Zama secures $73M to enhance data privacy

The significance

This funding round reveals the huge role that AI plays in today’s tech market.

Startups like OpenAI and Mistral continue to attract huge investments to build large-scale language models, and it’s rare to find an organisation today that’s not evaluating how to use more AI in its business. However, information security teams are also becoming increasingly aware of the problems that AI can cause.

To companies themselves, interacting with AI services like chatbots or generative AI applications runs the risk of breaching their own internal intellectual property and data protection policies. Cyera is also finding the solution.

A source said that AI right now is a “huge driver” for business at Cyera.

It initially focuses on working with companies in verticals such as healthcare, technology, financial services, manufacturing, retail, and travel, to provide tools for data classification, situational management (snapshots that help track how and where data is moving), detection, and response, and access governance.

That business has driven tens of millions of dollars in current ARR for the startup.

However, Cyera has been noticing a shift in what its customers are asking to track, a source tells us.

Many organizations are bringing more automation into their networks, and the concern will also make it much harder to categorize and screen for the usage of sensitive data. “It’s all about everything that enterprises need to do to get ready for AI,” he said.