Thursday's AI sell-off was not about demand. It was about who pays. The Nasdaq fell 2.6 per cent, Meta unveiled non-voting shares to fund its build-out and Nvidia's Jensen Huang warned of a scarcity of capital, as OpenAI raced to close up to $30 billion at $1.25 trillion. Retracement or reckoning?
SpaceX posted a US$4.4 billion quarterly profit as AI revenue surged, while Tesla and SpaceX courted Korean suppliers for their Terafab chip project in Texas. Musk is targeting production in 2028 as the companies also explore a potential merger.
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Cyera’s reported $300 million raise at a $12 billion valuation shows how quickly enterprise data security is being repriced as AI adoption accelerates. The figures should be framed carefully, because Cyera has disputed the reported numbers.
AI and data security company Cyera has raised $300 million at a valuation of $12 billion, according to Calcalist. The fundraising would bring Cyera's total capital raised to more than $2 billion. The latest round was reportedly led by Evolution Equity Partners, one of the most prominent investors in Israeli cybersecurity.
Calcalist first reported the latest financing, while subsequent reporting indicated Cyera had exceeded $150 million in annual recurring revenue despite remaining unprofitable. At the reported valuation, the deal would price the company at about 80 times ARR, underscoring how aggressively investors are valuing companies tied to data security and enterprise AI.
People familiar with the matter said Cyera was spending heavily as it scaled, including on sales expansion. A Cyera spokesperson said the reported figures were "factually and significantly inaccurate," while Evolution Equity Partners did not comment publicly.
The financing would come only five months after Cyera announced a $400 million Series F at a $9 billion valuation led by Blackstone. If completed on the reported terms, Cyera's total funding would rise to at least $2 billion. According to PitchBook, Cyera has added 500 jobs so far this year.
“Enterprises want to move quickly, but they also recognize that AI without data security and governance is a risk they cannot afford...."
Data discovery, classification, governance and protection have become board-level controls for AI adoption. In its January Series F announcement, Cyera said it secures data and AI for 20 percent of the Fortune 500. Yotam Segev, co-founder and CEO of Cyera stated:
"AI is reshaping the foundations of how every organization operates, and our mission is to ensure that this transformation happens securely."
Video on Cyera’s AI-Native DSPM providing clarity and control over your data by discovering, classifying, and securing it across SaaS, cloud, and on-prem environments. Source: YouTube
AI increases the value and risk of enterprise data at the same time. Sensitive information now feeds copilots, analytics tools, automation workflows and security systems. Misclassified or overexposed data becomes a direct operational risk. Adam Fletcher, chief security officer at Blackstone, said in Cyera's January release:
"AI is fundamentally changing the enterprise risk landscape, and data has quickly become one of the fastest-growing and least understood attack surfaces."
The practical question is not only whether Cyera's valuation is high, but why investors are paying for data-security scale now. AI governance programmes are credible only when organisations know where sensitive data lives, who can access it and whether it is being used safely.
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