Stephen Ward, a former Secret Service agent and ex-CISO for Home Depot, is launching a second cybersecurity fund of approximately $250 million under Brightmind Partners. Ward closed his first fund in late 2025 at the same size with co-founder Gur Talpaz, who departed the firm in April, leaving Ward as the sole general partner. Brightmind’s debut fund made 14 investments and notably led the Series A for SGNL, an identity security startup acquired by CrowdStrike for $740 million just 11 months later. Ward’s background in government and corporate cybersecurity informs his pragmatic view on startup exits, advocating for strategic sales between a company’s third and seventh years rather than the classic IPO path.

Ward’s unconventional career path started with service in the Coast Guard and nine years in the Secret Service, where he worked on cyber investigations including flipping a major hacker informant. After a private sector move to J.P. Morgan in 2007, he built the bank’s cybersecurity unit and later held CISO roles at TIAA and Home Depot. In 2021, disillusioned after Home Depot, Ward joined Insight Partners via a connection to Wiz’s founders before eventually stepping out on his own at age 49 to raise Brightmind’s first fund amid skepticism about his age. His military and intelligence experience, coupled with corporate cybersecurity leadership, shapes his deep industry knowledge and investment strategy.

Brightmind’s team of five uses AI-driven tools developed in-house to source deals, keeping management lean and efficient. Ward focuses on startups targeting real-time “zero second” protection tailored to cyber-specific models rather than broad AI, expressing skepticism that larger AI players like Anthropic or OpenAI will dominate cybersecurity. The firm is investing about 20% of its new fund into AI infrastructure alongside core cybersecurity startups, including promising companies from Israel, which accounts for roughly 40% of its initial portfolio. Ward prefers backing second-time founders who maintain strong team cohesion and focuses heavily on understanding how security giants like CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks approach acquisitions.

Raising this second fund comes when early-stage cybersecurity startups are attracting more capital than later-stage firms for the first time in over a decade, with seed round sizes surging significantly. Ward’s disciplined, data-driven approach aims for a “3x net fund” return, underscoring his competitive mindset and drive to outperform expectations. Despite career upheavals and periods of personal challenge, including being wrongfully implicated in a hacker investigation, Ward’s trajectory embodies resilience and a relentless pursuit to master the cybersecurity investment space by deploying capital where timing and market dynamics align best.