IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cylance Inc., the company that revolutionized endpoint security by delivering AI-powered threat prevention, today announced that it has closed a $120 million funding round led by funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and including other investors. The financing enables Cylance to continue its rapid global expansion and extend its portfolio of market-leading cybersecurity solutions.
Cylance’s exceptional market growth came from pioneering the first machine learning powered predictive endpoint security solution and proving that it is possible to protect users from unknown cyberattacks. According to a recent SE Labs report, with Cylance’s ‘predictive advantage,’ a company can protect endpoints from threats which may not exist for years to come. Since the company’s inception, its machine learning based approach has prevented attacks on average 25 months before the attack was launched and first discovered, giving defenders their nights and weekends back.
Furthermore, in a recent NSS Labs’ test of competing solutions, Cylance led the field proving to be over 99% effective in preventing attacks. To date, Cylance has prevented over 23 million attacks worldwide, including more than four million previously unidentified attacks. The types of attacks prevented include both known and unknown threats such as ransomware, exploit and memory attacks, fileless attacks, script-based attacks and living off the land attacks.
“Cylance has proven that artificial intelligence can defend against cybersecurity problems that were previously thought impossible to prevent,” stated Cylance CEO, Stuart McClure. “With the most advanced application of AI in endpoint security, Cylance products continuously learn and improve over time, enabling customers to achieve a state of ‘Perpetual Prevention’ and creating a simple silence on the endpoint.”
The new funding will bolster the company’s sales, marketing and development efforts to increase market share, further expand its global footprint across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific, and extend its breadth of product offerings.
“Blackstone was an early believer in Cylance’s approach of applying AI to prevent one of the most difficult issues businesses face today – cyberattacks that disrupt operations and damage reputations,” said Viral Patel, Senior Managing Director in Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities group.
“This has been a unique opportunity to participate in funding a company helping to turn the tide against a very serious threat to organizations worldwide,” added Dave Johnson, a Senior Advisor to Blackstone.
“With annual revenues over $130 million for fiscal year 2018, over 90% year-over-year growth, and more than 4,000 customers, including over 20% of the Fortune 500, we have demonstrated market success, scale and traction,” said Brian Robins, Chief Financial Officer at Cylance. “We are honored to have Blackstone Tactical Opportunities expand its commitment to Cylance by leading this round of financing. The investment supports our growth strategy and will enable us to continue on the path to becoming cash flow positive.”
About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with $450 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
About Cylance® Inc.
Cylance is the first and only company to deliver Perpetual Prevention™ by applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to all cybersecurity attacks to prevent the most advanced security threats in the world. Using a breakthrough predictive process, CylancePROTECT® quickly and accurately identifies what is benign and what is a threat, and prevents malicious code from ever executing on a targeted system. By leveraging advanced machine learning with a unique understanding of an attacker’s mentality, Cylance provides technology and services that are truly predictive and preventive against the most advanced threats, all without the need for updates. For more information visit:www.cylance.com.
