IT-HARVEST has announced the second cohort of its Cyber 150 awards, revealing that 22% of winners offer AI security products and that 33 of the top 150 startups fall under the AI security category. According to IT-Harvest research, the global cybersecurity industry now includes 4000 vendors and 11000 security products. The 2026 cohort shows a strong influx of new entrants, with 103 new companies among the top 150, while eight 2025 winners graduated by exceeding the 500-employee mark, including Chainguard and Tines.
Upwind, a US-based security operations startup, ranked as the company that raised the most in total ($430m), and Exein, an Italian IoT security firm, led 2025 alone with $189.94m. The cohort spans 19 countries, with 89 nominees based in the US and 27 in Israel, and the awards were announced by Richard Stiennon, founder and chief research analyst of IT-Harvest, on his Substack blog on 9 March 2026.