Very Good Security, which helps companies protect their customers' data, raises $35M Series B led by Goldman Sachs, bringing its total raised to $43.5M
Context & Ripple Effects
Goldman Sachs' lead in Very Good Security's $35M Series B is not an isolated bet but the latest entry in a deliberate cybersecurity portfolio. The bank had already backed database security startup jSonar and cloud-security services firm deepwatch, and it went further by acquiring bot-mitigation firm Human Security outright before its own growth round — a spectrum running from minority checks to full ownership.
First-order effects
- Very Good Security gains $35M to scale its data-protection platform, lifting total funding to $43.5M, while Goldman Sachs adds a data-vaulting specialist alongside its existing positions in security ratings, database security, bot mitigation, and supply-chain security (Fortress Information Security's later $125M round extended that reach).
Second-order effects
- Rivals in data protection now face a competitor whose balance sheet is anchored by one of Wall Street's most active security investors, and other security startups gain a template: SecurityScorecard's $180M Series E roughly eighteen months later showed the category could keep attracting outsized rounds.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, large financial institutions shift from merely buying enterprise security to underwriting it — using equity stakes to shape which vendors their portfolio companies and clients adopt, effectively making banks a capital layer of the security industry itself.
The trend: Major banks, led by Goldman Sachs, are systematically assembling equity portfolios across the cybersecurity stack rather than treating security vendors purely as suppliers.