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May 25, 2022 | Tom Ballard

Investor in Nashville start-up announces closing of $300 million second fund

Good news came yesterday for start-ups in the security, national defense and related sectors.

SYN Ventures, a venture capital (VC) firm that has already invested in one Nashville start-up and has ties to another in Arizona, but with a Co-Founder in Hamilton County, announced yesterday the closing of its second fund at $300 million. Described as the only VC firm founded and led exclusively by former Fortune 500 Chief Information Security Officers and C-level security leaders, the company also noted another important milestone. The latest closing comes less than 12 months since the launch of its debut fund and continues the SYN Ventures’ focus on early stage cybersecurity, industrial security, national defense, privacy, regulatory compliance, and data governance start-ups.

In addition to announcing the closing of Fund II, the firm also announced that Ryan Permeh, Co-Founder and former Chief Scientist of Cylance, has joined SYN Ventures full time as an Operating Partner.

“As cybersecurity has come to the forefront of every human on the planet, the pace of innovation is exploding for both our industry and adversaries,” said Jay Leek, Managing Partner at SYN Ventures, based in West Palm Beach, FL. “Adding Ryan, one of the most successful and connected entrepreneurs in our industry, to our team is incredible validation of our investment thesis and mission of protecting all companies big or small, the United States and our allies.”

SYN investments thus far include Adlumin, Boldend, Halcyon, Metabase Q, Netography, Pangea, Phosphorus, Query.ai, SecZetta, Sevco Security, ShiftLeft, SynSaber, TrackerDetect, Revelstoke, and Transmit Security. Those with Tennessee ties are:

  • Phosphorus was co-founded by Chris Rouland and Rebecca, his wife, in 2017 in Nashville. The company notes on its webpage that it offers “the only remediation platform that finds every Thing, fixes every Thing and brings every Thing into compliance.”
  • SynSaber, headquartered in Chandler, AZ, was co-founded by Ron Fabela who lives in Apison, an unincorporated part of Hamilton County. He serves as the start-up’s Chief Technology Officer. Founded in 2020, the company itself offers a simple, flexible, and scalable industrial asset and network monitoring solution that provides continuous insight into the status, vulnerabilities, and threats across the industrial ecosystem.

To read the SYN Ventures news release, click here.


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