Key facts
- Ballistic Ventures filed with the SEC to raise $360 million for its third flagship fund, matching its 2024 fund size.
- A second filing covers Ballistic Ventures Fund B, targeted at $130 million.
- Neither of the two new funds had recorded any sales at the time of filing, per the filings.
- Ballistic Ventures declined to comment on its fundraising plans.
- U.S. cybersecurity startups raised $11.5 billion in 2025, the highest since 2022, per a JPMorgan Chase report citing PitchBook data.
- AI-enabled companies accounted for about 72% of U.S. cybersecurity venture deals through May 2026, the same report said.
Ballistic Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm focused on cybersecurity, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on November 3, 2026 to raise $490 million across two new funds, according to regulatory filings reviewed by TechCrunch. The larger filing covers a third flagship fund targeting $360 million, the same size as the firm's previous fund raised in 2024. A second filing covers a separate vehicle, Ballistic Ventures Fund B, targeting $130 million. Neither fund had recorded any sales at the time of filing.
The firm was founded in late 2021 by Ted Schlein, a former Kleiner Perkins partner who spent more than two decades at that firm, along with Barmak Meftah, former president of AT&T Cybersecurity, and Roger Thornton, who co-founded Fortify Software and AlienVault. Ballistic has backed Talon Cyber Security, acquired by Palo Alto Networks, and Pangea, bought by CrowdStrike, as well as startups Armadin, GetReal, Nudge Security and Oligo Security. A cybersecurity investor at another venture capital firm told TechCrunch that Ballistic's ties to Kleiner Perkins set it apart from rivals, while its investment strategy resembles those of Forgepoint Capital and Ten Eleven Ventures.
Ballistic announced a $300 million debut fund in 2022 and raised $360 million for its second flagship fund two years later, according to PitchBook data cited by TechCrunch. It also raised about $130 million for a separate vehicle called Ballistic Ventures Fund A, PitchBook data showed, and the new Fund B targets a similar amount. Ballistic Ventures declined to comment on its fundraising plans.
The fundraising plans come as growing use of artificial intelligence has raised concerns about more sophisticated cyberattacks. A recent JPMorgan Chase report citing PitchBook data said U.S. cybersecurity startups raised $11.5 billion in 2025, the highest since 2022, and that AI-enabled companies accounted for about 72% of U.S. cybersecurity venture deals through May 2026, compared with 36% in 2019. Separately, Microsoft's annual Digital Defense Report, released last month, warned that hackers are increasingly using AI for phishing, social engineering and malware development, allowing attackers to operate faster and at greater scale even as many underlying techniques remain unchanged.