Cybersecurity Startup Abnormal Security Raises $250 Million Looks For IPO

Abnormal Security Raises $250 Million and Plans an Initial Public Offering

San Francisco-based cybersecurity software maker Abnormal Security recently completed a $250 million Series D funding round led by Wellington Management that values them at $5.1 billion. Current investors Greylock Partners, Menlo Ventures and Insight Partners as well as CrowdStrike Ventures participated. Abnormal’s AI-native human behavior security platform detects and blocks attacks targeting email accounts as well as SaaS applications such as Salesforce Workday Google Apps Zoom.

This investment underscores investor appetite for startups using AI to reinvent established technology categories such as security. The market is currently seeing consolidation, with many competitors being acquired or restructuring their business models; for example, Cloudflare acquired Area 1 Security last year.

Evan Reiser, Abnormal’s CEO, stated in an interview with CNBC that they plan to go public within several years; the timing will depend on market conditions. Reiser stressed Abnormal has strong finances and operations; thus an IPO would likely be “super positive”.

Abnormal will use these funds to invest in growth and expand its presence abroad. Already making inroads into international markets like Europe and Japan, Abnormal plans to further grow its U.S. federal market presence by customizing customer support and technical services to meet FedRAMP standards. Furthermore, Abnormal seeks to broaden its footprint in non-English speaking markets by localizing products for different regions; and cross-selling additional tools like account takeover protection services with core email security customers.