From Cloud to AI: Cybersecurity’s Next $100B Evolution
PLUS: Ex-Chief Strategist of a billion-dollar multi-asset fund in Asia building AI platform to decode market signals from regulatory shifts.
Behind The Scenes
On March 18, 2025, Google announced its intent to acquire Wiz for a staggering $33B -the largest cybersecurity deal in history and the most valuable venture-backed exit ever. This milestone follows a familiar trend: every major platform shift - from the internet to mobile to cloud - has given rise to new security leaders. AI is next.
A Brief History of Cybersecurity
From the rise of the internet to the cloud revolution, cybersecurity has repeatedly produced $10B+ market leaders, with Wiz as the latest example. Now, AI marks the next seismic shift - not just an incremental improvement, but a fundamental transformation of the security landscape.
AI’s impact will be twofold: it will expand moderate-sized markets into the next wave of $10B+ opportunities while also turning already substantial markets into $100B+ mega-industries. Below, we explore the security domains AI is set to reshape.
Breaking $10B: Security Markets Poised for AI-Driven Growth
AI Guardrails: Securing AI-Driven Enterprise Workflows
As AI becomes deeply embedded in enterprise operations, organizations face a new and urgent challenge: protecting against the misuse or manipulation of AI systems. A new category of security solutions - AI firewalls - will emerge to monitor, control, and secure AI interactions, preventing unauthorized access and misuse.
Expanding the Market with AI
With enterprises rapidly deploying AI, they are also creating unprecedented attack surfaces - from data leakage via prompt engineering to the generation of malicious content. These specialized AI security solutions will detect unauthorized access patterns, prevent sensitive data exposure, and guard against AI-specific threats like prompt injection.
As businesses race to adopt AI, security controls will become non-negotiable. Regulatory pressures around responsible AI use, coupled with the risk of reputational damage from manipulated AI outputs, will drive massive demand. This market is set to grow rapidly, solidifying AI’s role as the next major cybersecurity battleground.
(This article was written by Venky Ganesan, Rama Sekhar, Feyza Haskaraman, and Sam Borja from Menlo Ventures. For the full version of this article, you can read it here)
Geeks of the Week
Startup Name: Oxy
Geography: US
One-liner: The open-source framework for agentic analytics
Founder(s) Background: Founder of Hyperquery (acquired; raised from Khosla Ventures), Founding ML Scientist at Wayfair, Senior Data Scientist at Airbnb.
Startup Name: Atlas HQ
Geography: US
One-liner: Modern concierge and spend management platform.
Founder(s) Background: Founder of Point Card (backed by Valar an YC), Founder of Crumbs App (acquired by Metal).
Startup Name: Bilby AI
Geography: Hong Kong
One-liner: Bilby use machine learning and AI to decode signals top-down from places where regulations affect markets.
Founder(s) Background: Chief Asia Strategist at Silverhorn ($1.8bn AUM).
Founder(s) building in stealth
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