Analysis: cybersecurity companies across the globe have raised $8.1B in 2020 and nearly $6.3B in the US, up from $7.4B globally and $4.7B in the US in 2019
Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News :
Context & Ripple Effects
Chris Metinko's year-end tally captured cybersecurity venture funding at an inflection: $8.1B globally in 2020, up from $7.4B, with the US driving nearly all of the growth — $6.3B versus $4.7B the prior year. What the piece could not yet show is where the curve went next.
The subsequent coverage turns this into a full cycle: H1 2021 alone hit $9B, more than double the same period of 2020 and already past 2020's full-year total ([[a:968339]]); 2022 peaked at a record $22.8B before falling by a third ([[a:833470]]); and 2023 closed at $8.2B across just 692 deals, the lowest total since 2018 ([[a:848509]]) — back to roughly where this article found it.
First-order effects
- US-based cybersecurity startups captured about three-quarters of 2020's global total, with US funding growing $1.6B year-over-year against only $700M for the rest of the world combined.
Second-order effects
- The US-heavy mix set up the 2021 surge: once private funding doubled in H1 2021, later-stage rounds concentrated further, pushing the sector to its $22.8B peak before the correction.
Third-order effects
- The 2020-to-2023 arc shows cybersecurity funding behaving cyclically rather than linearly — deal counts compressed alongside dollars (941 deals in 2022 down to 692 in 2023), suggesting the sector's steady security demand does not insulate it from broader venture retrenchment.
The trend: Cybersecurity venture funding moves in pronounced boom-bust cycles layered over durable enterprise demand, with US startups consistently absorbing the largest share of each wave.