Stephen Ward targets a second $250 million cybersecurity fund

Ward, a former U.S. Secret Service agent and chief information security officer at TIAA and Home Depot, launched Brightmind in 2024 with Talpaz, formerly a CrowdStrike corporate development executive. Talpaz and Tayler Sipperly left in April. In August, they co-founded Cognition with Elia Zaitsev, CrowdStrike’s former global CTO; the new firm is reportedly targeting a $170 million first fund. Ward attributed the split to “differences in opinions regarding operations and the future of Brightmind.”

Brightmind’s first fund closed at $250 million late last year. Its sole exit so far is SGNL, an identity security startup that CrowdStrike agreed in January to acquire for $740 million, 11 months after Brightmind led its Series A. Ward argues that cybersecurity investors should be ready to sell before a company’s value peaks. He says acquisitions often make the most sense when startups are between three and seven years old, and that Brightmind studies what large security companies are building or buying to anticipate likely deals.

The fundraising comes during a shift toward earlier-stage cybersecurity investment. PitchBook counted $4.7 billion in seed-through-Series B deals through September, more than for all of 2025, though the number of deals fell to 248 from 358. The average cybersecurity seed round rose to $8.4 million in the first nine months of this year, from $5.54 million a year earlier. Ward also questioned how much investment labeled AI security is genuinely focused on the field: PitchBook classified 278 first-half 2026 deals that way, while Brightmind’s manual review identified 30 as true AI security deals.

Ward says about 20% of the second fund will go to AI infrastructure, with a meaningful number of investments expected to come from Israel. About 40% of the debut fund’s startups are based in Tel Aviv. He favors cyber-specific AI models that run locally on customers’ systems for what he calls “zero second” protection, and is also looking for startups that could challenge established firms such as Qualys and Tenable.

Before venture capital, Ward served four years in Coast Guard search and rescue and spent nine years in the Secret Service, where he moved into cyber investigations. He later worked at J.P. Morgan, TIAA and Home Depot, then joined Insight Partners for three years. Brightmind now has five employees. Ward says his goal is to deliver a “3x net fund.”