Cylake Raises $290 Million to Build a Security Platform That Never Touches the Public Cloud
A new cybersecurity startup backed by the founder of Palo Alto Networks has pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars to serve banks, hospitals, and government agencies that cannot put their data on shared internet infrastructure.
Key points
- Cylake, a cybersecurity startup, raised $290 million in funding as of 2025.
- The company was founded by Nir Zuk, who also co-founded Palo Alto Networks, one of the world's largest cybersecurity firms.
- Cylake's platform is designed for heavily regulated industries, such as banking, healthcare, and defence, that are not permitted to store sensitive data on public cloud services.
- The company was preparing to launch a beta, meaning an early test version, of its platform at the time of the raise.
- SecurityWeek originally reported the funding figure as $245 million; the confirmed total is $290 million.
Cylake has raised $290 million to build what it calls an AI-native security platform, a system that uses artificial intelligence to spot and block digital threats, specifically designed for organisations that are legally or contractually barred from using public cloud services.
Public cloud services, such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, are shared computing networks run over the internet by large technology companies. Most businesses use them freely. A hospital handling patient records, a bank processing transactions, or a government contractor working with classified material often cannot. Regulations in those industries require data to stay inside tightly controlled, private systems.
That gap is exactly what Cylake is targeting.
Who is behind this, and why does it matter?
Nir Zuk co-founded Palo Alto Networks, one of the biggest names in commercial cybersecurity, and his involvement gives Cylake significant credibility before its product has even launched publicly. Founding teams with that kind of track record tend to attract serious money, and $290 million before a product is widely available is a large vote of confidence from investors.
The raise positions Cylake in a market that has historically been underserved. Security vendors typically build products for the broadest possible customer base, which means public-cloud-first architectures. Regulated industries then spend considerable effort adapting those tools to environments they were not designed for.
What does this mean for ordinary people?
If your hospital, bank, or pension fund eventually uses Cylake's platform, the direct effect on you is meant to be positive: better security for the systems that hold your financial and medical records. You would not interact with the software directly.
That said, a fundraising announcement is not a finished product. The company is still in beta, meaning real-world testing has not concluded. Whether the platform delivers on its promise is a question that defenders in those regulated sectors will be watching closely over the coming months.
| Detail | Fact |
|---|---|
| Startup | Cylake |
| Founder | Nir Zuk (co-founder of Palo Alto Networks) |
| Funding raised | $290 million |
| Product status at raise | Beta (early testing phase) |
| Primary customers | Heavily regulated industries (banking, healthcare, government) |
| Key differentiator | No reliance on public cloud infrastructure |
No vulnerability or breach is at the centre of this story. The significance here is structural: significant private capital is flowing into a corner of the security market that public-cloud-centric vendors have largely left to one side.
Whether $290 million is enough to build and maintain a credible alternative to established players is the question Cylake will have to answer in production, not in a press release.
