Brightmind targets second $250 million fund with Ward as sole GP

Brightmind Partners is raising a second cybersecurity fund targeting roughly $250 million, the same size as the debut vehicle it closed late last year, with co-founder Stephen Ward as sole general partner.

Ward is raising the fund without co-founder Gur Talpaz, who left in April along with another early colleague, according to TechCrunch, which first reported the raise. The New York firm is two years old.

For allocators, the single-GP structure raises key-person risk: the first fund closed with Talpaz alongside Ward, but Fund II is being raised by Ward alone.

Ward's record includes SGNL, an identity security startup that CrowdStrike agreed in January to buy for $740 million, 11 months after Brightmind led its Series A.

Early-stage cybersecurity startups are raising more money than later-stage rivals for the first time in more than a decade, according to TechCrunch.

Ward's career began with four years of Coast Guard search and rescue and criminal justice studies at Seton Hall. He spent nine years in the Secret Service investigating financial crime and cyber cases, then held CISO roles at TIAA and Home Depot before investing, according to TechCrunch. "You have to sell on the way up," he said.