2026年一季度网络安全风险投资趋势（英）2026

EMERGING TECH RESEARCH CybersecurityVC Trends VC activity across the cybersecurity ecosystem REPORT PREVIEWThe full report is available through the PitchBook Platform. Contents Cybersecurity landscape3 Institutional Research Group Quarterly analysis4 Dimitri ZabelinSenior Research Analyst, AI and Cybersecuritydimitri.zabelin@pitchbook.com Key takeaways Oscar Allaway VC activity Exits pbinstitutionalresearch@pitchbook.com Published on May 29, 2026 Medians AI themes Key deals Conclusions8 Cybersecurity VC deal summary26 Cybersecuritylandscape Application securitySecurity operationsData securityIdentity & access managementEndpoint securityNetwork security For the complete cybersecuritytaxonomy and company list,clickhereto see the market map on thePitchBook Platform. Quarterly analysis Key takeaways •Cybersecurity VC activity opened 2026 with resilient capital formation, as deal value held steady at$5 billion despite transaction count falling to the lowest level since 2018. •Early-stage funding overtook late-stage for the first time since Q3 2022, driven by AI-nativeplatforms raising outsized rounds from inception as investors concentrated on AI-native startups. •Exits reached a record $32.9 billion, fueled almost entirely by Alphabet’s $32 billionacquisition of Wiz, highlighting hyperscalers’ growing willingness to pay premium multiples forcategory-defining platforms. VC activity Cybersecurity capital formation opened 2026 with a familiar pattern. Headline deal value held steady at$5 billion in Q1, down only 1% QoQ. Deal count slipped to 198 transactions, the lowest quarterly readingin the dataset dating back to 2018. The persistence of this divergence between aggregate capitaldeployed and the number of companies receiving it now appears structural rather than cyclical. Investors are continuing to underwrite a tighter cohort of platforms with demonstrated revenue tractionand clearer exit pathways. Early-stage company formation faces a higher bar on differentiation,particularly outside of AI-native categories. The YoY comparison further reinforces this dynamic, withQ1 2026 deal value up 23.2% from a year earlier even as deal count fell 23.6% over the same period. The VC stage mix in Q1 2026 broke from the prior-quarter pattern in one important respect: Early-stageVC value rose meaningfully QoQ to $2.1 billion across 60 deals, exceeding late-stage VC value for thefirst time since Q3 2022. Rather than signaling a broad return to early-stage funding, the shift reflectsthe emergence of an AI-native early-stage cohort capable of commanding late-stage round sizes frominception. Tenex.AI, Upwind Security, and Armadin each closed early-stage rounds above $180 millionduring the quarter, with two priced at unicorn post-money valuations. Data security delivered the most pronounced sequential expansion in the quarter, with $704.3 milliondeployed against $306.7 million in Q4 2025. The move was driven almost entirely by Cyera’s $400million venture-growth round at a $9 billion post-money valuation rather than a broad-based segmentrecovery. Underlying enterprise demand for data security posture management remains intact asorganizations contend with sensitive-data sprawl across AI-enabled workflows. Application security registered a softer quarter at $697.4 million across 39 deals, with deal countcontracting from 48 in Q4 2025. The segment continues to reflect higher transaction density at smalleraverage round sizes, with capital concentrated in development operations (DevOps) security platformsand AI protection. The QoQ slowdown in deal value reflects the timing of large rounds rather than adeterioration in segment fundamentals. Late-stage VC value softened to $1.7 billion as a result. The deal count there held firm at 70transactions, indicating that late-stage activity remained broadly intact even as the largest checksrotated earlier in the stage curve. Security operations (SecOps) continued to anchor the segment league table, generating $1.8 billionacross 59 deals in Q1 2026 and growing 30.5% QoQ. SecOps sits at the intersection of real-timedetection, response, and AI-augmented orchestration. AI-driven threats are most operationally visiblethere, and enterprise budgets are consolidating around integrated security information and eventmanagement (SIEM) and orchestration platforms. Sustained investor conviction in this thesis isreinforced by the breadth of activity across stages. SecOps captured top deals at the early, late, andventure-growth stages during the quarter. Network security and endpoint security moved in opposite directions in the quarter for related reasons.Network security rebounded to $538.5 million from a depressed Q4 2025 base, lifted by UpwindSecurity’s and Exaforce’s cloud-security rounds. The broader trend of network-focused capabilitiesbeing absorbed into integrated cloud-delivered platforms continues to narrow the standaloneinvestment opportunity. Endpoint security re