# Former Secret Service agent Stephen Ward seeks $250m for second cyber fund

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/the-ex-secret-service-agent-who-flipped-a-hacker-is-now-raising-a-second-250m-cybersecurity-fund/
- Published: 2026-11-05T18:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-05T18:34:25+00:00
- Original publisher: TechCrunch
- Original article: https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/05/the-ex-secret-service-agent-who-flipped-a-hacker-is-now-raising-a-second-250m-cybersecurity-fund/
- Topics: Cybersecurity, Technology

## Key points

- Stephen Ward is raising a second fund of roughly $250 million.
- Brightmind’s SGNL investment preceded a $740 million acquisition agreement.
- Ward is now the firm’s sole general partner.

## Summary

Stephen Ward, a former Secret Service agent and corporate security chief, is raising a second cybersecurity fund of about $250 million. His firm, Brightmind Partners, is known for backing companies with a clear-eyed view of potential sales, and its early investment in identity security start-up SGNL preceded CrowdStrike’s agreement to acquire it for $740 million.

Ward is now Brightmind’s sole general partner after co-founder Gur Talpaz and another early colleague left in April. Before becoming an investor, Ward served in the Coast Guard and spent nine years in the Secret Service, where he turned a major credit card hacker into an informant; after the hacker was caught hacking again and implicated Ward, Ward spent about 18 months clearing his name. The article says early-stage cyber security start-ups are attracting more funding than later-stage rivals for the first time in more than a decade.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.