Dec 16 (Reuters) – Blackstone is leading a $400 million investment in Cyera that values the Israeli data-security startup at $9 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Cyera, founded in 2021 and backed by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Accel, has an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform.
Existing investors plan to participate in the new investment round, the report said.
Alternative asset manager Blackstone and Cyera did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Cyera had raised $540 million in a funding round in June this year that doubled its valuation to $6 billion.
The rapid adoption of AI has resulted in companies spending more to protect their systems from hack, leading to higher demand for firms such as Cyera that provide data security using its AI-driven platform.
In June, the company said it posted 353% growth in Fortune 500 companies over the past 18 months, expanded to 10 countries and more than doubled its size to nearly 800 employees globally. In that time, it raised $1.3 billion and its valuation jumped 12 times.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Subhranshu Sahu)