Ballistic Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Ballistic Ventures is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to early-stage cybersecurity innovation. The firm positions itself as "your first partner when you go to save the digital world," framing its work around a moral responsibility to defend digital infrastructure against an evolving threat landscape. Rather than acting as generalist capital, Ballistic emphasizes that its General Partners and Venture Partners are former operators (CISOs, founders, and security executives) who have collectively founded, funded, or operated over 100 cybersecurity companies. The firm's stated mission is to "fuel the ideas of the world's greatest cybersecurity entrepreneurs" with operational experience, an extensive practitioner network, and deep sector expertise.
Sector Focus
Ballistic invests exclusively in cybersecurity and adjacent categories, with particular concentration in:
- AI-driven and agentic security (AI red-teaming, AI usage monitoring, shadow AI discovery, AI security posture management)
- Cloud security and cloud security control planes
- Identity, access, and non-human identity management
- Incident response and breach/vulnerability prioritization automation
- Application security and AppSecOps/DevSecOps
- Web3 and digital asset security
- Emerging threats such as deepfakes and disinformation
Stage Focus
Ballistic invests at early stage, spanning pre-seed, seed, seed-plus, and Series A, with selective follow-on participation into growth rounds for existing portfolio companies (e.g., Series B follow-ons).
Check Size
Exact check-size ranges are not publicly disclosed. Observed lead checks span from single-digit millions at seed (e.g., $10M seed in Magnitude) up to leading a seed tranche inside a combined $189.9M seed-and-Series-A raise (Armadin), indicating a wide range depending on conviction and round structure.
Lead Tendency
Ballistic frequently leads or co-leads its investments. Recent examples include leading Magnitude's $10M seed (2026), leading Armadin's seed round within its record $189.9M combined seed/Series A (2026), leading Native's $31M Series A (2026), and co-leading Hypernative's $40M Series B alongside Ten Eleven Ventures (2025).
Recent Activity
Ballistic has been actively deploying from its $360M Fund II (closed March 2024, oversubscribed, following a $300M debut fund in 2022), bringing total AUM to roughly $660M. Notable 2025-2026 activity:
- June 2026: Led Magnitude's $10M seed for AI-driven third-party risk management
- March 2026: Led the seed tranche of Armadin's record-breaking $189.9M combined seed/Series A; Series A led by Accel. Ballistic GP Kevin Mandia also serves as Armadin's CEO.
- March 2026: Led Native's $31M Series A for multi-cloud security policy enforcement; Venture Partner Phil Venables joined Native's board
- October 2025: Portfolio company Pangea was acquired by CrowdStrike
- June 2025: Co-led Hypernative's $40M Series B (Web3/digital-asset security) with Ten Eleven Ventures
Portfolio Highlights
Ballistic's active portfolio spans 25+ companies including Above, Aembit, Alethea, Armadin, ArmorCode, AuthMind, BreachRx, Codezero, Concentric AI, Root Evidence, GetReal, Gomboc AI, Hypernative, Magnitude, Mimic, Native, Noma, Nudge, Oligo, OverAI, Reach, Reveal, SpecterOps, UForce, WitnessAI, and Zip.
Notable exits: Veza (acquired by ServiceNow, deal announced December 2025, closed ~March 2026, ~$1.2B); Pangea (acquired by CrowdStrike, September 2025); Talon Cyber Security (acquired by Palo Alto Networks, December 2023). The team's pre-Ballistic track record also includes involvement with Mandiant, ArcSight, LifeLock, Abnormal Security, and Segment (acquired by Twilio).
Team
Ballistic is led by a group of veteran cybersecurity operators:
- Kevin Mandia, General Partner — founder of Mandiant; now also CEO of portfolio company Armadin
- Barmak Meftah, General Partner — former CEO of AlienVault
- Ted Schlein, General Partner — longtime security investor, former Kleiner Perkins partner
- Jake Seid, General Partner
- Roger Thornton, General Partner — founder of Fortify Software
- Nicole Perlroth, Venture Partner — former NYT cybersecurity journalist
- Phil Venables, Venture Partner — former CISO of Google Cloud, now on Native's board
- David Hahn, CISO Operating Partner
The firm also maintains a large bench of Strategic Advisors drawn from government (e.g., Gen. Paul Nakasone, Gen. Timothy Haugh, Chris Inglis) and industry security leadership.
Decision Process
Ballistic operates as a General Partner collective/partnership model; investment decisions draw on the combined operating experience of its GP and Venture Partner bench rather than a single decision-maker.
Founder Preferences
Ballistic explicitly seeks founders addressing evolving, high-stakes cybersecurity threats, and emphasizes that its value-add is "help from operators who understand the nuances that face a new security startup" — implying a preference for founders building deep, technically differentiated security products rather than generalist SaaS with a security veneer.
Geographic Focus
Headquartered in San Francisco. Portfolio founders are drawn broadly from the US (including Seattle) and Israel (e.g., Native's co-founders are split between Seattle and Tel Aviv), reflecting the concentration of cybersecurity technical talent in both hubs.