Stephen Ward, co-founder of the New York-based cybersecurity venture firm Brightmind Partners, is currently raising a second fund. The target size for this new vehicle is approximately $250 million, matching the firm's debut fund closed late last year.
Ward is now the sole general partner at Brightmind following the departure of co-founder Gur Talpaz and an early colleague in April. The firm currently employs five people, including a CTO who developed AI agents to manage deal sourcing and a technical environment for product testing.
The investment strategy focuses on cybersecurity startups, with roughly 20 percent of the new fund allocated to AI infrastructure. Ward emphasizes backing second-time founders and targets exits between the third and seventh years of a startup's lifecycle.
Brightmind's portfolio includes SGNL, an identity security company acquired by CrowdStrike for $740 million in January. Ward previously worked at Insight Partners, where he was involved with companies like Wiz and Elisity, the latter of which was acquired by IonQ for up to $1.3 billion.
