SoftBank to Invest Another $200M in Security Firm Cybereason

(Bloomberg) -- Cybereason Inc., the Boston-based firm that revealed the hacking of at least 10 global telecommunications carriers in June, has raised another $200 million from investor SoftBank Group Corp. as it seeks to grow its market and upgrade its product to keep pace with hackers.

“Cybereason plays a leading role in helping companies manage cybersecurity risks and protecting people's information,” Marcelo Claure, chief operating officer at SoftBank Group, said in prepared remarks. “AI-driven technology like Cybereason's is helping secure our increasingly connected world.”

Cybereason installs software across corporate information systems -- computers, mobile phones and servers -- that communicate with a “brain” in the cloud. The platform, based on machine learning and artificial intelligence, detects and isolates threats before they are able to attack a system, Lior Div, the company's chief executive officer, said in an interview.

Div said a good portion of the new funding will go to research and development. “We have developed a machine that works faster than hackers hack, but we need to continue to learn and evolve," he said. “Cybersecurity doesn't stand still.”

Artificial intelligence in the cybersecurity market is projected to reach $38.2 billion by 2026, increasing more than 23% from 2019, Research and Markets said in a May report.

Cybereason has raised about $390 million, most of it from SoftBank.

Div said he hopes the investment will help the company double revenue next year and look at going public in about two years.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Andrew Martin, Mark Milian

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