AI Cybersecurity Startup Raises $250M to Enhance Security Platform

Abnormal Security has raised $250 million in a series D funding round to expand its AI-powered cybersecurity platform and accelerate global growth. 

The San Francisco-based startup offers AI-powered security solutions to help businesses protect against a range of email attacks, including ransomware and executive impersonation.

Boston-based investment firm Wellington Management led the round, with Greylock Partners, Menlo Ventures and Insight Partners also participating.

CrowdStrike’s Falcon Fund, managed in partnership with Accel, also backed the startup.

The series D round brings Abnormal’s total capital raised to $546 million. Its valuation now stands at $5.1 billion.

The startup plans to use the funds to invest in its products, including improving its autonomous AI decision systems and researching new capabilities.

Abnormal also plans to broaden its product range beyond email protection to other areas in the cloud environment. Additionally, the company seeks to expand across Asia and Europe, while also finalizing its FedRAMP authorization to offer solutions to the U.S. federal government.

“We are relentless in fulfilling our mission of protecting humans with AI and we’ve earned the trust of our customers by providing the best product in human behavior security,” said Evan Reiser, Abnormal Security’s co-founder and CEO. “This funding allows us to further invest in our human behavior AI platform to protect more people across their everyday applications while enabling customers to accelerate their AI initiatives with autonomous AI solutions.”

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Abnormal’s security platform leverages machine learning to detect inbound attacks and compromised accounts across email and connected applications. 

Its anomaly detection engine can understand human behavior by analyzing content in emails, ensuring it can pick up socially engineered attacks that target susceptibility in staff.

For example, its Abuse Mailbox tool can automatically scan headers and body content of suspicious emails, identifying them as safe or potentially malicious. 

The startup said it’s seen intense demand for its services, recording a 100% year-over-year increase in annual recurring revenue.

Abnormal said 17% of Fortune 500 companies use its services to protect staff and has more than 2,400 customers. 

“The early success of Abnormal Security is impressive, with the platform well-positioned to address the vast human behavior and identity-centric cybersecurity challenges we’re facing today,” said Rob Mazzoni, a late-stage growth investor at Wellington Management. “Abnormal offers significant value to chief information security officers, contributing to the company’s rise toward market leadership in only a few years.”

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