Significant drop in cybersecurity VC funding reported

Only 21 cybersecurity venture capital deals were recorded during the first three months of 2023, which was 50% lower than the previous quarter, 56% lower than the same period last year, and the lowest since the first quarter of 2015, according to SiliconAngle. Despite the significant drop in cyber VC investment volumes, seed valuations for cybersecurity firms totaled $15.5 million in the first quarter of 2023, which was only second to the median pre-money valuation recorded during the previous quarter, while median investments for seed-stage firms reached $4.5 million, which is the highest on record, a report from DataTribe revealed. "These two data points are on the back of the slowest seed investment pace of the last decade and we have a new level of concentration in the cybersecurity innovation ecosystem. Fewer companies receiving more funding at higher valuations is likely a good thing for the sector, particularly the enterprise [chief information security officer], which is already overwhelmed with vendors trying to sell the latest product," said the report, which also noted decade-low merger-and-acquisition activity.