Ballistic Ventures, the cybersecurity-focused venture firm co-founded by former Kleiner Perkins general partner Ted Schlein, is looking to raise $490 million across two new funds.
The firm has filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a $360 million flagship vehicle, Fund III, and a smaller $130 million vehicle called Fund B. The filings arrive as generative AI is rapidly changing how attacks are launched and how companies defend against them.
What the SEC Filings Show
The proposed Fund III would match the size of the firm's previous fund, raised in 2024. Fund B adds a second, smaller pool of capital on top of it.
According to a report by Startup Fortune, which cited TechCrunch's coverage of the filings on November 3, neither fund had recorded any sales at the time. Ballistic declined to comment on its fundraising plans.
Form D filings signal an intention to raise money rather than a completed close, so the final amount could change before limited partners commit.
A Firm Built Around a Single Sector
Ballistic was founded in late 2021 by Schlein alongside Barmak Meftah, who previously led AT&T Cybersecurity, and Roger Thornton, who built Fortify Software and AlienVault. The firm invests only in cybersecurity startups.
That narrow focus has produced exits. Ballistic backed Talon Cyber Security, later bought by Palo Alto Networks, and Pangea, which was acquired by CrowdStrike.
Its current portfolio includes Armadin, GetReal, Nudge Security and Oligo Security. GetReal works on detecting deepfakes, a threat that has grown as AI tools make it easier to imitate a person's voice or face.
Steady Growth in Fund Sizes
The firm's fundraising record shows a clear upward trend. Ballistic debuted with a $300 million fund in 2022 and then closed an oversubscribed $360 million second fund in 2024.
Targeting $490 million in combined capital roughly two years later would represent a significant increase in the money the firm has available to deploy.
The source also notes that Ballistic filed for $100 million with the SEC in April 2025, an example of how fundraising targets can shift before a fund is finalized.
AI Is Pulling Capital Into Security
Generative AI has given attackers cheaper ways to write convincing phishing messages, produce new malware variants and create realistic fakes. At the same time, it has opened new markets for defenders, including deepfake detection, monitoring of AI agents and management of machine identities.
Investors have responded. AI-enabled companies accounted for 72% of U.S. cybersecurity venture deals through May 2026, compared with 36% in 2019, according to TechCrunch figures cited in the report.
Crunchbase put U.S. cybersecurity startup funding at $11.5 billion in 2025, the highest level since 2022, while Crunchbase News separately estimated global cybersecurity and privacy funding at $18 billion for the year. The totals vary by methodology, but both point to a sector recovering from the 2022 and 2023 downturn.
Why Two Funds Instead of One
Running a larger flagship alongside a smaller, separately targeted vehicle lets a firm keep different kinds of investments in different pools of capital.
In Ballistic's case, the structure could allow it to support later-stage portfolio companies that need bigger checks while still making smaller early bets, without both strategies competing for the same money.
Specialist firms have used similar setups before, typically when they believe deal flow is broad enough to justify managing two funds at once.
What It Means for Security Founders
If Ballistic reaches its target, cybersecurity founders will have another well-capitalized, sector-specific investor to approach at multiple stages of growth.
More broadly, the filings reflect a market where AI is accelerating demand for new security products, and where specialist investors are positioning to fund founders building tools for the threats that technology creates.
Source: Startup Fortune
