Ballistic Ventures seeks $490 million for cybersecurity funds
Ballistic Ventures, a San Francisco cybersecurity venture capital firm co-founded by former Kleiner Perkins partner Ted Schlein, is seeking to raise $490 million through two new funds. Regulatory filings submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission list a $360 million target for the firm’s third flagship fund and $130 million for Ballistic Ventures Fund B.
Neither vehicle had recorded sales when the filings were made. The $360 million target matches Ballistic’s second flagship fund, raised in 2024, while Fund B is aiming for roughly the same amount as the firm’s separate $130 million Fund A vehicle.
New capital targets a changing security market
The fundraising plans arrive as artificial intelligence is reshaping the cybersecurity investment environment. Wider use of AI has heightened concern about more sophisticated attacks, while the growth of AI agents has created opportunities for startups building security products and for specialist investors backing them.
Microsoft’s annual Digital Defense Report, released last month, said attackers are increasingly using AI for phishing, social engineering and malware development. The company warned that the technology can let adversaries work faster and at greater scale, even where their underlying techniques have not changed.
Investment data also illustrates the shift. A JPMorgan Chase report, citing PitchBook data, found that US cybersecurity startups raised $11.5 billion in 2025, the highest total since 2022. AI-enabled companies represented about 72% of US cybersecurity venture deals through May, compared with 36% in 2019.
Ballistic builds on earlier cybersecurity funds
Founded in late 2021, Ballistic Ventures counts Schlein, former AT&T Cybersecurity president Barmak Meftah and security entrepreneur Roger Thornton among its founding team. Thornton co-founded Fortify Software and AlienVault.
The firm announced a $300 million debut fund in 2022 and raised $360 million for its second flagship fund two years later. Its portfolio has included Talon Cyber Security, acquired by Palo Alto Networks, and Pangea, acquired by CrowdStrike, as well as Armadin, GetReal, Nudge Security and Oligo Security.
Ballistic’s connection to Kleiner Perkins, where Schlein spent more than two decades, is a differentiator in a competitive field, a cybersecurity investor told TechCrunch. Its overall investment approach is nevertheless similar to that of other focused firms, including Forgepoint Capital and Ten Eleven Ventures. Ballistic Ventures declined to comment on the new fundraising plans.
What the planned raise means for businesses
For businesses assessing security strategy, the filings underline the concentration of capital around technologies designed for an AI-influenced threat environment. Procurement and risk teams can use that market signal to examine whether prospective tools address AI-assisted phishing, social engineering and malware activity alongside established security controls.