Highlights include:

• M&A: 2021 saw a record setting year in strategic acquisitions, with a total of 286 transactions for $77.5 billion in aggregate disclosed value. The year saw 14 deals valued over $1 billion, the highest number of billion-dollar-plus deals to date. Security consulting and MSSPs continue to lead industry deal counts, while SecOps / IR / Threat Intel experienced 171% YoY increase, the largest of any sector.
• Investment In Cyber Is Keeping Pace With Threats: Total investment into Cybersecurity soared in 2021 more than doubling over the previous year. Investors poured $29.3 billion in total venture capital and PE financing across 1,000+ deals, up from $12.4 billion in 2020. Of the 1,042 total transactions, 82 were greater than $100 million and total financing value was up 136% over the year prior.
• Record Levels of IPO Activity And Valuations Signal Criticality Of Cybersecurity: The term “unicorn” is no longer reserved for a select few companies in Cyber with over 30 unicorns minted in 2021 versus 6 in 2020 and valuations were at record levels. There was also a flurry of IPO activity this past year as companies went public both via traditional routes and via SPAC. Major IPOs included KnowBe4, Darktrace, SentinelOne, Riskified, and ForgeRock, totaling $2.2 billion in gross IPO proceeds. Cybersecurity stocks consistently performed in line with the S&P 500 while outperforming the NASDAQ.
• Data Breaches: 2021 experienced an uptick in Cyberattacks while at the same time witnessing several devastating breaches. Attacks on core infrastructure grew, including a major disruption to the availability of fuel to millions of people with the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, interruption of food supply with an attack on JBS, and the crippling of the Irish health system. On top of that, supply chain attacks, like SolarWinds, Kaseya, and Microsoft Exchange, highlighted the dangers of our increasingly interconnected and technology dependent world. Significant vulnerabilities discovered and actively exploited in 2021, including the Log4j discovery and NSO’s zero-click exploitation spyware, reinforced this growing risk area and highlighted the need for new innovation to reinforce our defenses across every commercial and government organization.
• Trends & Predictions: Investors are now looking to 2022 with a focus. The shift to remote work sparked innovation in 2021 and many promising technologies and exciting trends have begun to take shape as we head into the new year including Cybersecurity’s emerging relationship with cryptocurrency and blockchain, the DevOps shift-left with a focus on catering to developers, managed detection and response, zero trust’s continued attention, and an expanding focus on ICS + OT as industrial security grows. While it remains to be seen how these sectors will evolve over the coming year, investors will certainly be paying close attention.