Brightmind's Stephen Ward Eyes Second $250 Million Fund Amid Partner Split
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The former Secret Service agent and CISO is betting on himself as the sole general partner of his cybersecurity firm, following a high-profile exit with SGNL.
Stephen Ward, co-founder of the New York-based cybersecurity fund Brightmind Partners, is raising a second fund targeting approximately $250 million, as TechCrunch first reported. The target matches the size of the firm's debut fund closed late last year.
Ward is pursuing this second raise as the firm's sole general partner. TechCrunch reports that co-founder and former CrowdStrike corporate development executive Gur Talpaz and early colleague Tayler Sipperly both left the firm in April. Ward attributed the departures to "differences in opinions regarding operations and the future of Brightmind." Following their exit, Talpaz and Sipperly co-founded a new venture firm alongside Elia Zaitsev, a former CrowdStrike executive.
Ward's investment track record includes leading the Series A round for identity security startup SGNL. In January, CrowdStrike agreed to acquire SGNL for $740 million, just 11 months after Brightmind's investment, as reported by TechCrunch.
Ward's path to venture capital began in the public sector. He served in the Coast Guard for four years in search and rescue before spending nine years in the Secret Service. While at the agency, Ward focused on cyber investigations and famously flipped a hacker who had executed a massive credit card data theft. This period of his life was later adapted into an Audible podcast titled "Operation Firewall."
Before launching Brightmind, Ward held CISO roles at TIAA for six years and at Home Depot for two years starting in 2019. He later spent three years at Insight Partners after being recruited by Jeff Horing, an Insight venture capitalist. During his tenure at Insight, Ward worked on companies including Abnormal Security, Wiz, and Elisity—the latter of which IonQ agreed to acquire in October for up to $1.3 billion. TechCrunch notes that Horing is among the limited partners who backed Brightmind's first fund.
Ward is initiating this second fund during a shift in the venture landscape where early-stage cybersecurity startups are currently raising more capital than later-stage companies for the first time in over a decade.