Empirical Security bags $25m as exploit threats surge
Empirical SecurityCompany
BrightmindInvestor
CostanoaInvestor
Hyde Park AngelsInvestor
Empirical Security closed a $25 million Series A on July 21, 2026, led by Brightmind Partners with Costanoa Ventures and Hyde Park Angels participating, bringing total capital raised to $37 million.
Empirical Security closed a $25 million Series A round on July 21, 2026, led by Brightmind Partners, with Costanoa Ventures and Hyde Park Angels also participating. The financing lifts the company’s cumulative funding to $37 million and is earmarked for scaling its two flagship SaaS products.
Deal Terms
The round, classified as venture‑stage Series A, was anchored by Brightmind Partners. Existing backers Costanoa Ventures and Hyde Park Angels reaffirmed their support, but no valuation multiple or post‑money valuation was disclosed. The capital will fund expansion of the Foundation platform—a global model that continuously monitors more than 18,000 exploited CVEs—and the Radiant engine, a bespoke predictive service that tailors exploit likelihood to each client’s environment.
Market Context
Empirical Security’s AI‑enhanced approach arrives as the attack surface widens. Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report, which incorporated Empirical’s data, showed exploited software flaws now account for 31 % of confirmed breaches, up from 20 % a year earlier. Traditional exposure‑management tools rely on static, opinion‑based risk scores that often miss the most imminent threats. By contrast, Empirical’s models combine real‑world exploit data with machine‑learning to surface the exploits most likely to affect a given organization, allowing lean security teams to prioritize remediation without adding headcount.
The founding team brings deep domain expertise. CEO Ed Bellis co‑founded Kenna Security and stayed on as CTO through its acquisition by Cisco. CTO Michael Roytman and chief data scientist Jay Jacobs helped create the Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), now a publicly available daily vulnerability‑threat index integrated into platforms from Tenable, Qualys, Crowdstrike, Microsoft and Wiz. The new funding positions Empirical to deepen its data moat, accelerate customer acquisition in technology, healthcare and financial services, and broaden its AI‑driven product suite.
Why It Matters
The infusion of $25 million gives Empirical Security the runway to outpace legacy exposure‑management vendors that still rely on generic risk scores. By expanding the Foundation and Radiant services, Empirical can lock in larger enterprise contracts, improve net‑revenue retention, and increase its share of the growing AI‑driven cyber‑risk market. Competitors such as Tenable and Qualys will face heightened pressure to embed predictive analytics into their own platforms, potentially accelerating their own R&D spend.
For investors, the round validates the market appetite for data‑rich, AI‑powered security SaaS that moves beyond signature‑based detection. Brightmind Partners’ lead position signals confidence that Empirical’s EPSS‑derived moat can translate into scalable recurring revenue, setting a benchmark for future cyber‑risk venture activity.
Key Points
- Empirical Security raised $25 million in a Series A round led by Brightmind Partners
- The financing brings total capital raised to $37 million
- Funds will scale the Foundation and Radiant SaaS offerings that track over 18,000 exploited CVEs
- Founders include former Kenna Security executives and creators of the EPSS vulnerability‑threat model
- Verizon’s 2026 DBIR identified exploited software flaws as the top initial‑access vector, now 31 % of incidents
Analysis
While the exact valuation was not disclosed, a $25 million Series A places Empirical Security among the larger early‑stage bets on AI‑driven cyber risk. Investors are betting that the company’s data moat—built on the EPSS and a continuously refreshed CVE exploitation feed—will translate into high‑margin, recurring SaaS revenue. The market is seeing a shift from reactive, signature‑based tools toward predictive, risk‑based platforms that can justify higher price points and deeper integration with security operations centers. For operators, the deal underscores the importance of embedding AI‑enhanced prioritization into vulnerability management workflows to maintain low false‑positive rates and sustain net‑revenue retention as teams shrink. For venture capitalists, the round signals that capital is flowing toward security startups that combine proprietary data, machine‑learning, and a clear enterprise value proposition, suggesting that subsequent Series B rounds may command multiples in the high‑teens to low‑twenties, especially if growth rates stay double‑digit. The funding also hints at a broader trend: as AI fuels both threat creation and defense, SaaS providers that can monetize real‑time exploit intelligence are likely to become acquisition targets for larger security platforms seeking to augment their threat‑intel capabilities.