Cybereason

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Cybereason

Company type	Private
Industry	Software
Founded	2012 (2012)
Headquarters	United States
Key people	Manish Narula (CEO)
Products	Security software
Number of employees	950
Website	cybereason.com

Cybereason is a cybersecurity technology firm based in the United States, established in 2012. Its main headquarters are located in La Jolla, California, with additional offices in London, UK serving as the EMEA headquarters, Tel Aviv, Israel, and various other international locations.

History

Founded in July 2012 and incorporated in Delaware, Cybereason began its journey as a cybersecurity enterprise.

By 2014, the company had set up its headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.

In August 2016, Cybereason formed a subsidiary within the United Kingdom, followed by the launch of its London office in November that same year.

June 2017 marked the debut of Malicious Life, a podcast exploring cybersecurity history, hosted by Ran Levi. The series concluded after broadcasting 258 episodes in December 2024.

In April 2018, Cybereason expanded into Australia by opening an office in Sydney and forming distribution and channel partnerships with Nextgen Distribution and Seccom Global, respectively, to serve Australia and New Zealand.

In June 2019, Cybereason exposed "Operation Soft Cell," a large-scale espionage operation targeting numerous global telecom providers. This cyberattack was linked to APT10 (also known as Red Apollo), an advanced persistent threat group believed to be supported by the Chinese government.

IPO Intentions and Subsequent Developments

In February 2022, it was disclosed by Reuters that Cybereason had confidentially submitted paperwork to pursue an IPO within the same year, aiming for a valuation near $5 billion.

Nonetheless, by June 2022, the company reduced its workforce by approximately 100 employees, representing around 10% of its staff, as startup valuations experienced a significant downturn. Following this, Cybereason underwent two additional rounds of layoffs: about 200 employees (roughly 17% of the workforce) were dismissed in October 2022, and a third reduction in March 2024 affected numerous senior-level staff members.

By October 2022, Cybereason acknowledged that "the tech IPO market has essentially closed," which compelled the company to abandon its IPO ambitions and engage JPMorgan Chase to explore potential acquisition opportunities.

Merger Proposal and Subsequent Events

In November 2024, Cybereason and Trustwave revealed a definitive agreement to merge. SoftBank remained the principal investor, while Trustwave’s existing owner, MC2 Security Fund—a private equity fund backed by The Chertoff Group—continued its role as a channel partner and strategic advisor. The transaction was anticipated to finalize in early 2025, subject to standard closing conditions and regulatory clearance. Post-merger, both entities were expected to operate independently while cooperating strategically on enhancing value-added services and capabilities.

In February 2025, CEO Eric Gan initiated legal action against SoftBank Vision Fund and Liberty Strategic Capital, alleging that their rejection of several proposals for critical capital injections—up to $150 million—placed the company at risk of insolvency. A few weeks later, on March 5, 2025, Mr. Gan stepped down as Cybereason’s CEO. Simultaneously, according to an anonymous source reported by Bloomberg News, the merger plans with Trustwave were also called off. Subsequently, in May 2025, Eric Gan withdrew his legal claims against Cybereason and its shareholders voluntarily.

Funding

In February 2014, Cybereason obtained $4.6 million through a Series A financing led by Charles River Ventures (CRV).

By May 2015, the company completed a $25 million Series B funding round spearheaded by Spark Capital, with additional investments from CRV and strategic partner Lockheed Martin.

In October 2015, Cybereason secured $59 million in Series C capital, with $50 million contributed by newcomer Softbank Group and the remainder provided by returning investors CRV and Spark Capital. This round elevated their cumulative funding to $84 million.

June 2017 saw Cybereason raise $100 million in Series D funding from SoftBank, bringing total investments since the company’s inception in 2012 to $189 million.

In August 2019, SoftBank Group and its affiliates infused another $200 million into Cybereason through new financing.

During July 2021, Cybereason attracted $275 million in Series F financing led by Liberty Strategic Capital, a venture fund established by Steven Mnuchin. As part of this agreement, Mnuchin and Liberty advisor Gen. Joseph Dunford joined the company’s board of directors. Subsequently, in October 2021, an additional $50 million was raised from Google Cloud, increasing the total Series F round to $325 million and pushing overall funding beyond $713 million.

In April 2023, Cybereason secured a further $100 million in venture capital from SoftBank Group, which raised total investment above $850 million. Concurrently, Eric Gan, SoftBank’s executive vice president, was appointed as the new CEO.

Most recently, in March 2025, Cybereason announced a fresh infusion of $120 million from SoftBank Corp., SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Liberty Strategic Capital. Alongside this funding milestone, Manish Narula, previously CFO, was named CEO of the company.

Services

Cybereason provides a comprehensive endpoint protection platform. This solution integrates antivirus capabilities, endpoint detection and response (EDR) functionality through a single agent, alongside a range of managed security services.

The company's research division, Nocturnus, focuses on identifying emerging attack techniques, performing malware reverse engineering, and uncovering novel system vulnerabilities. Notably, Nocturnus was the pioneer in developing a vaccination against the 2017 cyber incidents involving NotPetya and Bad Rabbit ransomware.

External links

• www.cybereason.com