Welcome to The Trident Radar's first edition!

You're now part of our community of founders, investors, and industry leaders who get the market intelligence that matters most - delivered every Monday.

Let's dive in.

Austin-based Ontic just closed a monster Series C round, bringing their total funding to $288.65M.

Why this matters: Ontic represents the evolution of threat detection beyond traditional cybersecurity into behavioral threat assessment, offering not just cyber protection, but total protection. An investment this large positions themselves at the top.

In their own words, “A POI posts online threats. Their car is spotted near your CEO’s home. Their name appears on a protest list. Alone, these are noisy signals. Ontic helps you connect them, fast — revealing what’s building before it escalates.”

Tel Aviv's Seemplicity closed a substantial Series B for their risk remediation automation platform. The company run by Yoran Sirkis is simplifying vulnerability management workflows, turning manual security operations into an automated, collaborative processes.

Why this matters: Seemplicity is tackling the operational nightmare that CISOs face: too many vulnerabilities, not enough time to fix them. Their approach of streamlining remediation processes with AI-driven prioritization addresses real enterprise pain points. This buy in from Sienna will help continue to drive industry adoption.

Berlin-based RedMimicry just closed seed funding for their breach and attack simulation platform. Founded in 2023, the 5-person team offers comprehensive emulation of real-world cyber attack chains using threat actor playbooks and advanced TTPs.

Why this matters: RedMimicry represents the growing European focus on proactive security testing. Red teaming IS European!!

Chicago-based Trustwave just got acquired again, this time by LevelBlue via WillJam Ventures. This marks Trustwave's second leveraged buyout in 18 months, after The Chertoff Group bought them for $205M in January 2024. Cyberreason also took a chance in November 2024, but ultimately it fell through.

What are Trustwave cooking?

Market Impact: Trustwave's 1,000-person operation and established enterprise relationships make it a valuable platform for rolling up the fragmented MDR market. We do question the rapid acquisitions, especially in a market not thriving. Expect to see something out the ordinary happen again soon.

Appsec giants F5 Networks have acquired Virginia-based MantisNet, a network intelligence and monitoring platform. MantisNet specializes in real-time network visibility using software-defined networking and advanced analytics.

Market Impact: MantisNet represents the classic "acqui-hire" + technology play - small enough to be affordable, specialized enough to be valuable, established enough to have proven market fit. F5 likely saw them as the fastest path to add real-time network intelligence capabilities without building from scratch or paying unicorn prices for larger competitors. Plixer, Sandgrain.. watch out!

This quarter's data reveals a fundamental shift in how cybersecurity companies are building their platforms. 38.5% of all cybersecurity deals now include AI components up from what was essentially zero just two years ago. This isn't just feature enhancement; it's massive architectural transformation.

What's driving this: Security vendors are acquiring AI talent and capabilities at breakneck speed, mainly because customers are asking "where's your AI?" in every sales cycle. The companies getting funded aren't necessarily the ones with the best AI - they're the ones who can articulate how AI solves real security problems like alert fatigue and analyst burnout. Meanwhile, traditional security companies without AI stories are finding themselves shut out of competitive deals entirely.

With over 15 major deals this quarter, Tel Aviv is punching way above its weight class. To put this in perspective, this small city is generating more cybersecurity deal activity as London (around 10 deals), despite having a fraction of the population.

The secret sauce: Israel's mandatory military service in Unit 8200 creates a conveyor belt of cybersecurity talent that immediately understands both offensive and defensive capabilities. But what's changed recently is Israeli companies are no longer just building for the local market, they're launching with global GTM strategies from day one with hungry founders.

Companies like Seemplicity ($50M Series B) are proving you can build enterprise-grade solutions in Tel Aviv and immediately compete in Silicon Valley. The pipeline isn't slowing down and we're seeing Israeli companies raise seed rounds specifically to fund US expansion teams.

Breeze Security

The Israeli startup making serious US market moves. Founded in 2023 and based in Tel Aviv, this small team has quietly raised $7M and is now aggressively expanding stateside after surpassing some big budget targets.

Why this matters: Breeze operates in the emerging ASCA (Automated Security Control Assessments) space, connecting security product silos to eliminate blind spots across hundreds of tools.

Trident Take: 2 years in and with ex Sygnia founder Ami at the helm, expect quick growth and a buyout in the very near future.

Founding Sales Director, $400K OTE + Equity - CTEM Platform | US/Remote
Series A Israeli cyber vendor expanding to US market. Need proven enterprise closer with 6-figure deal experience. This role will grow to player coach very quickly.
Contact: [email protected]

VP of Sales, $500k OTE + Equity - Cyber Intelligence Platform | US/Remote
Private Equity Owned TI Platform, leading US GTM. Must be a player coach, immediate building of a team.
Contact: [email protected]

Account Executive $300k OTE + Equity - OT Platform | US/Remote
Growing OT platform seeking AE with CNI experience. Strong territory with expansion potential. $150K+ OTE.
Contact: [email protected]

Head of Marketing, $200k + 25% bonus - WAF | London/Remote
A Seed Web App/WAF security team, building marketing function from ground up in the US. .
Contact: [email protected]

VP of Sales, $450k OTE. - Identity Security | NYC
Identity security platform scaling rapidly. Seeking sales leadership with proven track record Scaling enterprise teams.
Contact: [email protected]

Ready to make your next move? These roles won't stay open long.

For Security Vendors: The market has spoken and AI integration is now mandatory for survival (who would of knew). You must differentiate yourself with implementation excellence and workflow magic, not just by having AI features. Protective intelligence and behavioral analytics maybe become the next battlegrounds.

For Enterprise Buyers: The window for specialized point solutions is closing fast - choose partners who can scale with AI-enhanced capabilities and proven enterprise traction.

For Investors: Deal volume continues to validate this years investment thesis (high levels of growth but with large deal volumes). Backing platforms that can roll up fragmented markets, these are your best bets.

Keep your eyes on:

Have market intelligence to share? Our network sees deals before they're announced, hiring freezes before they're public, and technology shifts before they hit the headlines.

Send us your tips:

Email: [email protected]
All sources protected. We verify before we publish.

The Trident Radar - Intelligence that moves faster than your competition
Delivered by Trident Search Research Desk
Editor: Ryan Keeley | London