Syn Ventures is launching a new fund dedicated to investing in cybersecurity startups.
The firm closed a $75 million seed fund, its third cybersecurity fund in three years. According to the company, it is the "largest dedicated seed fund" in the U.S. dedicated to the businesses in that sector.
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Co-founder and Managing Partner Jay Leek said Syn Ventures reviewed more than 100 seed investment opportunities, with a focus on early-stage startups.
"It became wildly apparent the U.S. industry needs a dedicated fund to address this opportunity to help these founders meet the distinct challenges at this stage of a company’s development and growth," he said in a statement.
Early stage founders will have access to Syn's venture network, including opportunities to participate in related events for its portfolio companies. Those connections will help entrepreneurs identify the right market for their products and build a solution that customers will want to purchase, Leek added.
The Syn Seed Fund will invest in solutions that reduce technology risk, address the cybersecurity talent gap and help automate and improve security programs. The firm will also collaborate with founders and assist them with hiring, operations and board governance
Syn Ventures launched in 2021 with a $165 million fund dedicated to technology that disrupts the cybersecurity industry. Last year, it closed another $300 million fund focused on investing in sectors such as industrial security, national defense, privacy, regulatory compliance and data governance.
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The West Palm Beach-based company is led by Leek, the former chief information security officer for New York private equity giant The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) and Patrick Heim, former head of security at Dropbox (Nasdaq: DBX) and chief trust officer for Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) in San Francisco. Syn's founders claim it is the only venture capital firm led exclusively by former Fortune 500 chief information security officers and C-suite level security leaders.
Syn Ventures has invested in dozens of startups since its launch, including Cranium AI, Reveal Security and Sevco. It contributed to a massive $543 million Series A round completed by Boston-based Transmit Security, a password-free authentication platform..
Leek previously described cybersecurity as an "existential challenge" facing every technology business. It's especially challenging because conflicts with regulators and fast-changing technology creates security gaps that can pose a threat to companies and other institutions.
“This drives a vast array of investment opportunities where we can leverage our network and experience," he said.
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