Hey there, it’s tech reporter Alexandra Sternlicht filling in for Allie.
It appears there’s not per week that goes by with out a main agency asserting a cyberattack. Final week it was Microsoft who shared {that a} China-sponsored cyberattack compromised over 8,000 servers worldwide, together with main banks, authorities entities, and well being care firms that saved works within the software program big’s Sharepoint product.
To fight assaults of this ilk, one upstart has raised a mixed $38 million seed and Sequence A and is now rising from stealth. As we speak, I’m sharing the information that alums of Microsoft cyber safety product Sentinel have launched cybersecurity firm Legion with $38 million in funding co-led by Accel and Image Capital, with participation from Coatue and angel buyers who work at firms together with Google, Crowdstrike, and Wiz.
Additionally, you’ve most likely by no means heard of Image Capital. That’s as a result of this additionally marks the primary public U.S. announcement of the enterprise capital agency helmed by cybersecurity heavyweights Michael Fey and Dan Amiga (cofounders of $4.8 billion cybersecurity tech firm Island) as effectively Mickey Boodaei (CEO and cofounder of Transmit Safety). The agency’s founders have pooled their capital collectively (they’re not saying precisely how a lot) to put money into cybersecurity firms.
Legion, amongst Image’s first investments, is a safety operations middle (SOC) that makes use of AI to detect threats inside customers’ laptop browsers. That is totally different from the preferred SOC applied sciences in the marketplace like Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft Sentinel, and CrowdStrike that largely detect threats by way of community, server, or different computing endpoint layers.
“The issue was staring proper at me day-after-day,” Legion CEO and cofounder Ely Abramovitch instructed me by way of Zoom, reflecting on his practically 5 years managing Microsoft Sentinel. “My prospects had little or no automation in place and have been struggling…this was getting worse with AI by the hands of attackers with the size and complexity of assault rising exponentially.”
Seeing the failure of Microsoft and different enterprise applied sciences to fulfill the brand new crop of subtle and large assaults motivated Abramovitch and his Sentinel colleague Michael Gladishev to depart Microsoft, enlist machine studying professional Eyal Fisher, and begin Legion in 2024.
Although the startup is rising from stealth with this announcement, Legion already has dozens of consumers that embody a significant monetary establishment and different “Fortune 20” firms, for whom Legion responds to threats 90% quicker than current gamers, in accordance with Abramovitch.
For Image Capital investor Fey, who was the chief working officer at Symantec and chief expertise officer at McAfee earlier than founding Island, Legion’s expertise is unparalleled. “Giant firms do wonderful issues, nevertheless it’s laborious to beat a well-funded startup on a selected downside,” he says of Legion. “I haven’t seen any actual innovation on this out of the bigger gamers. Not as a result of they’ll’t, however as a result of the truth is that this takes a selected set of technologists, a selected set of engineers, and it’s an costly downside to resolve.”
Alexandra Sternlicht
X: @iamsternlicht
E-mail: alex.sternlicht@fortune.com
Submit a deal for the Time period Sheet e-newsletter right here.
Joey Abrams curated the offers part of at present’s e-newsletter. Subscribe right here.
VENTURE DEALS
– Atmosphere Healthcare, a San Francisco-based AI platform for documentation, coding, and scientific workflow, raised $243 million in Sequence C funding. Oak HC/FT and Andreessen Horowitz led the spherical and have been joined by current buyers OpenAI Startup Fund, Kleiner Perkins, and Optum Ventures.
– Salient, a San Francisco-based supplier of AI-powered monetary providers expertise, raised $60 million in funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the spherical and was joined by Matrix Companions, Michael Ovitz, and Y Combinator.
– Teramount, a Jerusalem, Israel-based high-speed information switch firm, raised $50 million in funding. Koch Disruptive Applied sciences led the spherical and was joined by AMD Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, and others.
– Lumana, a Los Gatos, Calif.-based AI video safety firm, raised $40 million in Sequence A funding. Wing Enterprise Capital led the spherical and was joined by Norwest and S Capital.
– Calo, a Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based customized meal subscription firm, raised $39 billion in a Sequence B extension. AlJazira Capital led the spherical and was joined by Oraseya Capital and current buyers Nuwa Capital, Al Faisaliah Group, and Khwarizmi Ventures.
– Sparrow, a San Francisco-based worker depart administration platform, raised $35 million in Sequence B funding. SLW led the spherical.
– Arbital Well being, a San Francisco, Calif.-based well being care expertise firm that gives crucial infrastructure for suppliers and payers to efficiently handle risk-based contracts, raised $31 million in Sequence B funding. Valtruis led the spherical and was joined by current buyers Transformation Capital, Shaper Capital, and Wholesome Ventures.
– Reveal Expertise, a Bozeman, Mont.-based protection expertise firm, raised $30 million in Sequence B funding. Ballistic Ventures led the spherical and was joined by defy.vc, Booz Allen Ventures, Protect Capital, Subsequent Frontier Capital, and Madison Valley Accomplices.
– Wingspan, a New York Metropolis-based payroll platform for managing unbiased contractors, raised $24 million in Sequence B funding. Touring Capital led the spherical and was joined by current buyers Andreessen Horowitz, Lengthy Journey Ventures, Distributed Ventures, Firm Ventures, and 186 Ventures.
– Promptfoo, a San Francisco-based platform for AI red-teaming and safety testing, raised $18.4 million in Sequence A funding. Perception Companions led the spherical and was joined by Andreessen Horowitz.
– Seal Safety, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based software safety options supplier, raised $13 million in Sequence A funding. Vertex Israel led the spherical and was joined by Extra Investments, SBI Group, and CCL.
– ARX Robotics, a Munich, Germany-based protection expertise firm, raised €11 million ($12.7 million) in funding. Speedinvest led the spherical and was joined by HV Capital.
– Trustfull, a Milan, Italy-based supplier of frictionless fraud prevention expertise, raised €6 million ($6.9 million) in funding. Seaya Ventures and Elevator Ventures led the spherical and have been joined by United Ventures.
– Caspian, a San Francisco-based AI-powered customs compliance firm, raised $5.4 million in seed funding. Major Enterprise Companions led the spherical and was joined by Clean Ventures.
– JotPsych, a Pepper Pike, Ohio-based medical AI scribe, raised $5 million in seed funding. Base10 Companions led the spherical.
– Retab, a San Francisco-based AI agent that builds doc extraction pipelines, raised $3.5 million in pre-seed funding from VentureFriends, Kima Ventures, K5 International, and angel buyers.
EXITS
– CRH agreed to amass Eco Materials Applied sciences, a South Jordan, Utah-based provider of sustainable cement options, from Warburg Pincus, One Fairness Companions, and Inexperienced Cement Investments for $1.2 billion.
– Clinisys acquired Orchard Software program Company, a Carmel, Ind.-based supplier of laboratory informatics options, from Francisco Companions. Monetary phrases weren’t disclosed.
– GTCR agreed to amass FMG Suite, a San Diego, Calif.-based supplier of promoting automation software program, from Aurora Capital Companions. Monetary phrases weren’t disclosed.
– Integrum Holdings acquired Stout, a Chicago, Ailing.-based advisory agency specializing in company finance, accounting and transaction advisory, valuation, monetary disputes, claims, and investigations, from Audax Non-public Fairness. Monetary phrases weren’t disclosed.
IPOS
– WhiteFiber, a New York Metropolis-based AI infrastructure firm, plans to lift as much as $132.6 million in an providing of seven.8 million shares priced between $15 and $17 on the Nasdaq. The corporate posted $56 million in income for the 12 months ending March 31, 2025.
PEOPLE
– 645 Ventures, a New York Metropolis-based enterprise capital agency, promoted Vardan Gattani to funding associate.
– Stellex Capital, a New York Metropolis-based personal fairness agency, appointed Matthew Kajfez as Working Accomplice – Provide Chain Transformation Lead.