Startup profile · funding coverage
Material Security funding, valuation and investors
Cloud email security — account takeover protection and data loss prevention for Google and Microsoft.
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Funding, valuation & investors
Answer-first snapshotLatest funding
Series C
$100M · May 2022
Latest known valuation
$1.1B
Series C · May 2022
Total disclosed equity funding
$100M
Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.
Current status
private
growth · San Francisco, California
Overview
Material Security is a cloud email security company protecting organizations using Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 from account takeover, business email compromise (BEC), and data exfiltration. Founded by former Google and Facebook security engineers, Material raised seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz in June 2020, followed by a $100M Series C in May 2022 at a $1.1B valuation led by Founders Fund with a16z returning.
Why Material Security is interesting
Material Security treats cloud email as the enterprise crown jewel — a16z led seed (2020) and joined Founders Fund's $100M Series C at $1.1B (2022) as BEC and inbox compromise became primary breach vector.
Product & use cases
Material Security monitors cloud email and file activity for signs of compromise — impossible travel, suspicious forwarding rules, OAuth app abuse, and sensitive data exfiltration — with automated remediation workflows.
- Detecting BEC attacks and compromised executive email accounts
- Finding malicious OAuth apps granted access to corporate Google/Microsoft accounts
- Automating response to suspicious inbox rules forwarding mail externally
Key facts
- Series C (May 2022): $100M at $1.1B led by Founders Fund; a16z participated
- Seed (Jun 2020): led by a16z
- Cloud email security for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365
- Founded by ex-Google/Facebook security engineers
Funding history (newest first)
Series C
2022-05 $100M Valuation: $1.1BSource: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/202205190059/material-security-series-c
Seed
2020-06Source: https://a16z.com/announcement/investing-in-material-security/
Investors in our directory
Funds linked from Material Security's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.
Competitive landscape
Edge: Material focuses exclusively on cloud email security post-O365/Google migration — deeper than generic CASB tools and faster to deploy than legacy SEG appliances designed for on-prem Exchange.
Email remains #1 breach vector. Material's unicorn Series C validated cloud-email security as standalone category — but Microsoft bundling and Abnormal competition keep the market contested.
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Microsoft Defender for Office 365 incumbent
Bundled email security in M365 E5; Material competes as specialized cloud-native layer.
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Abnormal Security direct
AI email security for BEC; closest competitor in cloud email threat detection.
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Proofpoint / Mimecast incumbent
Legacy email security gateways adapting to cloud; Material's cloud-native architecture.
Notable stories
- Material's founders saw enterprises migrate to cloud email but keep security tools designed for on-prem Exchange — creating a gap BEC attackers exploited via forwarding rules and OAuth tokens.
- Reaching $1.1B valuation in under three years from seed reflected peak 2022 cybersecurity funding and email's persistent role as attack entry point.
Industries
FAQs about Material Security
Practical answers founders, operators, and investors typically search for.
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