Mandia moves from Strategic Partner to GP to fund and incubate the next generation of cybersecurity innovation
Ballistic Ventures, the venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to funding and incubating entrepreneurs and innovations in cybersecurity, is pleased to announce that co-founder Kevin Mandia is now General Partner.
Mandia is one of the world’s most recognized experts in cybersecurity, known for his relentless efforts to fight cyber threats for more than 30 years. In 2004, he founded renowned cybersecurity firm Mandiant, serving as CEO from 2004 to 2013, when Mandiant Corporation was acquired by FireEye. Mandia took the helm as CEO of FireEye in 2016, guiding the company through a divestiture and corporate name change to Mandiant, Inc. in 2021, and through a successful acquisition by Google in 2022. Mandia recently transitioned to an advisory role within Google Cloud, and he continues to sit on the Google Public Sector board.
In 2023, Mandia was appointed by President Biden to serve as a member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC). He is also a member of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Cybersecurity Advisory Committee. Previously, he held senior positions in the security consulting divisions of Sytex, acquired by Lockheed Martin, and Foundstone, acquired by McAfee. He also served in the United States Air Force as a computer security officer at the Pentagon, and later as a special agent in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
“I am very excited to dedicate more of my energy to Ballistic Ventures, and I especially look forward to working with the entrepreneurs who are shaping the future of cybersecurity,” said Mandia.
Ballistic Ventures was co-founded in 2021 by Mandia and General Partners Barmak Meftah, Ted Schlein, Jake Seid and Roger Thornton. While CEO of Mandiant (now part of Google Cloud), Mandia jointly served as Co-founder and Strategic Partner at Ballistic, leading the firm’s investment in SpecterOps, the Attack Path Management company, where he is an Observer to the company’s Board of Directors. Mandia also served as the second investing partner for five of the VC firm’s 18 investments to date, and is a Board Observer to portfolio company Alethea, the disinformation detection and mitigation company.
“We’re excited to have Kevin as a General Partner at Ballistic,” said Schlein. “Kevin’s expertise in the cybersecurity industry is unparalleled, and his knowledge of the market and customer set is unmatched.”
As General Partner, Mandia will draw from his extensive knowledge of the threat landscape and expertise as a successful founder and CEO to expand his investments within the firm and continue to mentor entrepreneurs and scale companies across the Ballistic portfolio.
Mandia’s move to General Partner comes on the heels of Ballistic Ventures announcing the close of its $360 million oversubscribed second fund. The firm is actively looking to deploy the new capital in novel innovations led by passionate cybersecurity entrepreneurs.
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