Softbank Invests $100M to Cybereason

Cybereason, a Boston-based digital security provider, announced today, Wednesday, that it has received a whopping investment worth $100 million from Softbank Corp. of Japan, as the Boston’s company focuses on developing new technologies and increasing distribution channels. Currently, Cybereason uses artificial intelligence and data science to find and fight against cyber security incidents.

This infusion doubles the company’s funding and makes it more prominent among other technology startups in the region. This latest funding values Cybereason at about $1 billion.

Softbank led the previous $59 million venture round in Cybereason, which closed in October 2015, and lead to a joint venture between the two firms giving a  security platform in the Japanese market.  The firm also recently purchased Waltham-based robotics company  Boston Dynamics from Alphabet Inc. In May, Softbank closed on $93 billion of an intended $100 billion “Vision fund”, the largest technology investment fund in history.

Cybereason’s CEO and Co-founder, Lior Div, said “This new funding allows us to increase our growth through a new distribution channels and to develop new technologies.”

Cybereason has already been growing fast, but the added funding will let the company to explore the globe with what the Div call its “offensive mindset approach to the market.”

Cybereason, a company which guides and helps customers to identify, defend and analyze different attacks on their computer systems, has raised $189 million since being founded in 2012. Its other investors are Cambridge-based CRV, a Boston-based Spark Capital and Lockheed Martin.

The Boston, Massachusetts-based firm’s products are used by companies to guard their systems  from cyber attacks, such as the latest WannaCry ransomware attack.

The WannaCry attack happened in infected 300,000 computers in more than 150 countries, distracting manufacturers, hospitals, shops and even schools.

Cybereason has presently about 300 employees, 110 of whom comes from Boston, and hundreds of customers around the globe.

Div said that the company is seeking to differentiate itself in the emerging cyber security field by the use of software to quickly determine the range of hacking attacks, looking across the customers’ systems to look for proof of how far the harm has extended.

“Our strengthened partnership with Softbank, which has a formidable sales force and enterprise customer base in Japan and a global reach, will also enable us to further expand our presence in the cyber security market.”

Div also aims to remove old guard giants like Symantec and McAfee while fighting off other high-valued startups from California and Massachusetts in an unrestrained and a split cyber security market.

“Right now, I believe that there is a very rare opportunity for us to build a huge business,” Div said. “ I want to dominate the cyber security market as we define it,” he added.

Cybereason reported that the company’s revenue increased about 500% during 2016 while the number of employees nearly tripled. Div said that the revenue now is in the “tens of millions” of dollars. The company also expects the number of employees to grow about 500 by the end of the year.

Softbank, a subsidiary of Softbank Group Corp, is also one of the biggest customers and distribution partners of Cybereason.

Meanwhile, by 3:00 PM GMT +9, Softbank Group Corp traded 0.98%, or 91, to JPY 9,182. It opened in JPY 9,300, with a session high of JPY 9,339 and a session low of JPY 9,160. Its market capitalization was 10.11 trillion, with a P/E ratio of 11.77 and a dividend yield of 0.48%.

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