Irvine-based Cylance Inc., one of the highest valued and closely watched private companies in Orange County, has released its first software product targeting consumers.
Cylance Smart Antivirus costs $29 a year for a single computer and $99 for up to 10 computers on a family plan.
The plug-and-play software is promoted as providing predictive security that tracks and blocks threats before they damage device performance or disrupt the user.
It’s geared to combat the 350,000 pieces of malware created every day, a staggering number that traditional antivirus software can’t defend against, according to Cylance.
“Existing solutions rely on reactive, signature-based technologies that slow down systems, bombard users with pop-up notifications, and require some form of breach in order to begin detecting malware,” the company said in a press release.
A year ago, the Business Journal was first to report that the company was entering the consumer market by making flagship corporate offering Cylance Protect available to thousands of consumers in its extended network. Its business customers could license the product for employees, setting a foundation for Cylance’s next level of growth as it takes on the likes of Norton Antivirus and McAfee.
Cylance’s automated software fuses machine learning, artificial intelligence algorithms and the cloud to thwart new and evolving threats and cyberattacks before they hit servers, desktops and virtual desktops.
In June, the software maker raised $120 million in a fifth venture round led by prior investor Blackstone Tactical Opportunities. Proceeds were earmarked to continue global expansion across Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, and to boost sales, marketing and product and business development.
Cylance grew revenue more than 90% in its last fiscal year to over $130 million. It has more than 4,000 customers, including over 20% of the Fortune 500.
A $100 million Series D round led by Blackstone in 2016 catapulted the company into unicorn status. It entered the year as OC’s sixth-largest software maker with 368 local workers and nearly 800 companywide.
Cylance has raised $297 million since its 2012 inception.
Team Player
Credit Irvine-based Ingram Micro Inc. with an assist for helping position Tenable Holdings Inc. for an initial public offering.
The Columbia, Md.-based cybersecurity prevention and risk-assessment provider filed a prospectus in late June to raise up to $100 million in an IPO through 10.9 million shares of common stock.
The company relies on resellers to push its products, 80% of annual sales generated from that channel.
Revenue last year hit $187.7 million, up nearly 51% over 2016, according to the regulatory filing. Ingram, the world’s largest technology products distributor, accounted for 45% of that. About 31% of Tenable sales are generated internationally.
Ingram posted $46.6 billion in revenue last year, up 11.3%. The company was acquired in late 2016 for $6 billion by Chinese conglomerate Tianjin Tianhai Investment Co., a unit of Hainan-based Fortune Global 500 company HNA, which has major operations in aviation, tourism and logistics.
Mobile Inroads
TCT Mobile North America, the Irvine operation of China-based TCL Communication Technology Holdings Ltd., is trumpeting several company firsts in its latest entry-level smartphone models.
The 1X is its first to feature the Android Oreo Go Edition operating system developed to help affordable smartphones run Android “faster, more efficiently and safer than ever.” The model is also its first with an 18:9 ratio display, the same long screen that’s on the Galaxy S9 and other popular phones.
The Alcatel 3V, the other recently released entry-level model, is the manufacturer’s first U.S. version to feature a dual-camera system on the back, as well as a 2K-resolution display.
The 3V costs $150 and features Alcatel’s new SIMGANIC design with curved lines, two-and-a-half-dimensional contoured edge glass and a curved back.
TCL was OC’s ninth-largest telecom last year with 125 local employees. The Irvine operation is behind the relaunch of the Blackberry—the Blackberry KEYone—and has lined up major carriers in the U.S. and Canada for the throwback concept that fueled the “Crackberry” craze in the mid-2000s.
