French venture capital firm Auriga Partners has secured €80 million for Auriga Cyber Ventures II, its second fund dedicated to cybersecurity investments. The fund is targeting a final size of €100 million, with a hard cap of €120 million, and will focus on supporting early-stage European cybersecurity startups.
Auriga Cyber Ventures II will invest in companies from pre-seed to Series A, with initial investment tickets ranging from €500,000 to €5 million. The fund will primarily make minority equity investments and plans to reserve approximately half of its capital for follow-on investments in portfolio companies.
The fund aims to support around 30 European startups, focusing on areas such as AI security, identity protection and data security.
Commenting on the need to strengthen Europe's cybersecurity sector, Geoffroy Rosset, Managing Partner at Auriga Partners, said:
Given the economic, industrial and sovereignty challenges posed by cybersecurity, Europe must equip itself to develop global leaders. We have a particularly dynamic pool of talent, technologies and startups, but they need both substantial capital and specialised support to realise their potential.
The fund has already made its first four investments, backing Finovox, which focuses on document fraud prevention, Fleuret, which develops AI-powered automated penetration testing, Mankinds, specialising in AI systems auditing and compliance, and Nextident, which focuses on AI agent security. Auriga is considering additional investments and aims to complete another two to three deals by the end of 2026.
Auriga Cyber Ventures II follows the firm's first €55 million cybersecurity fund, launched in 2022. Over the past five years, Auriga has backed 30 European cybersecurity startups. Since 2022, the firm has evaluated more than 2,000 companies in the sector. Its first fund has 40 per cent exposure to AI-related technologies and 32 per cent to defence applications.
The firm has also invested in companies including Wallix, Vade and Nexthink. According to Auriga, its investments in Vade and Nexthink generated more than €500 million in distributions to investors during 2025–2026.
Beyond funding, Auriga provides startups with access to a network of investors, entrepreneurs and industry experts. William Lecat, Managing Partner at Auriga Partners, emphasised the importance of this support:
In cybersecurity, the ability to provide hands-on support is just as critical as funding.
The firm's network includes founders and executives from cybersecurity companies such as Wallix, Vade, Sentryo and Oodrive. Through this network, Auriga aims to support portfolio companies with industry expertise, business development and international expansion.
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