Cylance, a cyber security company which applies artificial intelligence algorithms to predictively identify and stop malware and advanced threats, today said that it has completed the initial closing of a $100 million Series D funding round led by funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Insight Venture Partners.
The funding will be used to support the company’s rapid business growth by expanding sales, marketing and engineering programs for Cylance endpoint protection go-to-market strategies.
Cylance was founded in 2012 by Stuart McClure, who sold an Internet security firm to McAfee for $86 million eight years ago and came on board as McAfee’s chief technology officer (CTO). Prior to this round, Cylance had already raised about $77 million, including a $42 million round last July and $20 million the previous year.
Cylance’s flagship product CylanceProtect was introduced into the market in 2014 and, according to the company, can analyze a computer file with 99 percent accuracy, to find out whether or not it is malignant. The company uses artificial intelligence in its proactive detection in an effort to remove human error from its product.
“We founded Cylance almost four years ago with a singular mission: protect those who cannot protect themselves, and empower those who can,” said Cylance CEO Stuart McClure. “Our goal of reinventing endpoint security by using machine learning to think like a cyber-hacker has been achieved and we now must ensure that it is put in the hands of security leaders inside enterprises, organizations, governments and small businesses as quickly as possible,” he added.
