Cybersecurity company Cylance, which uses AI to detect threats, raises $120M Series E and says it had $130M+ revenue for fiscal 2018, up 90%+ YoY
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Context & Ripple Effects
Two years after its $100M Series D at roughly a $1B valuation, Cylance is back with a $120M Series E — but this time the headline number is revenue, not price: $130M+ for fiscal 2018, up over 90% year over year. That shift from valuation-led to revenue-led fundraising is what separates this round from the 2016 one.
The raise also lands in a crowded lane: UK rival Darktrace climbed from a $64M round at over $400M to a $75M Series D at an $825M valuation within a year, making AI-based threat detection one of the best-funded categories in cybersecurity.
First-order effects
- Cylance now has fresh capital to scale sales and product against both legacy antivirus incumbents and AI-native peers like Darktrace, while its disclosed 90%+ growth gives it a metrics advantage in enterprise procurement conversations.
Second-order effects
- Darktrace and other AI-security startups face pressure to match Cylance's revenue disclosure cadence, since later-stage buyers and investors increasingly compare growth rates rather than headline valuations across this cohort.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the AI-security category consolidates around firms that can convert 'AI detects threats' into audited recurring revenue, pushing valuation-only competitors toward earlier exits or down rounds.
The trend: AI-native cybersecurity is graduating from valuation-driven mega-rounds to revenue-justified scale-ups, with disclosed growth becoming the currency of later-stage funding.