Exclusive: Cyber warfare startup Twenty is now worth $1 billion
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Twenty, a cyber warfare startup, raised $100 million and is now valued at $1 billion.
Why it matters: Cyber success stories like this are rare, as some investors latch onto things that go boom or can be hauled onto a conference floor.
- Even rarer is Twenty's unabashed pursuit and advertisement of offensive cyber tools.
Driving the news: Twenty announces its Series B on Wednesday. Chief executive Joseph Lin tells Axios the money will be spent on supercharging research and development and the "existing roadmap that we have."
- "We were founded to industrialize cyber warfare," he says. "And industrialize is a really, really important concept here."
Threat level: American networks and IT are under siege. Chinese hackers plant digital satchel charges on critical infrastructure, à la Volt Typhoon. Meantime, the potential of Russian spillover from the invasion of Ukraine was enough to spook Congress and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency alike.
- "This is the only domain of warfare where you have conflict happening day-in and day-out, 365 days a year, 24/7," Lin says.
- "Our adversaries have only become even more aggressive," he adds. "They've been emboldened. They're no longer just stealing data from us."
- Twenty, it appears, wants to help punch back.
Follow the money: Accel led the Series B. Other backers include Friends & Family Capital, Point72 Ventures and Caffeinated Capital.
- The round brings the startup's total funding to $138 million.
- It has contracts with the U.S. military and intelligence community, but Lin declined to provide more detail.
Zoom out: Cyber and space operations have been promoted by the Trump administration, including in Midnight Hammer in Iran and Absolute Resolve in Venezuela.
- "For the first time," Lin said, "you're seeing an administration call for offensive cyber to be a national priority, in order to change adversary behavior."
Go deeper: Cyber specialist Method Security raises $26 million
