YL Ventures Welcomes Justin Somaini as Partner!

After working together for almost a decade, I am thrilled to welcome cybersecurity luminary Justin Somaini as Partner at YL Ventures.

This new addition to YL Ventures’ team is a natural next step for the evolution of YL Ventures’ $400M Fund V, the largest seed fund ever raised for cyber. Together, we’re raising our bar of championing security excellence with enhanced domain expertise, strategic guidance across the company-growing process, an even broader network and impactful investments in industry game-changers.

A Long History of Mentorship

As one of YL Ventures’ first four advisors (another-which is Andy Ellis who is now an Operating Partner), Justin has always been an indispensable member of our network of industry leaders offering knowledge and guidance to complement the expertise of even the most seasoned entrepreneurs. His impressive pedigree, consisting of both cybersecurity leadership in some of the world’s foremost technology companies, as well as his extensive management experience in the security domain, have materialized into a wealth of insights he has always been eager to share with our founders as an advisor and angel investor.

Justin’s accumulated roster of top experience has rightfully earned him a stellar reputation in the industry. He has led security at Unity, SAP, Yahoo and Symantec, and sat on the board and/or advised a fair share of highly successful cybersecurity companies, including Cycode | Complete ASPM and Valence Security from YL Ventures’ portfolio, and industry giants such as Qualys and Palo Alto Networks. In these roles and others, he has cemented himself as an authority on customer needs and built out an unparalleled network of key industry players.

A Boost to the YLV Investment Team

Joining our executive team, Justin is accelerating the value we offer through in-house expertise. Our strategy has always been premised on the idea that cybersecurity entrepreneurs should work with investors that understand and carry influence in their specific domain. This is especially true at the earliest stages of cybersecurity company-building, where we help identify opportunities and guide cybersecurity entrepreneurs through their ideation, market positioning, business development and so much more to build out category leaders.

Spearheading our U.S. Investment Team, Justin is also helping further grow our presence and network in the cybersecurity industry’s largest market. To date, over 40% of our early-stage portfolio companies’ customer base has arrived through our network. Justin will work with our portfolio founders on a full time basis to take this to the next level.

Moving Forward

We couldn’t be more delighted, because Justin shares our passion for cybersecurity and innovative technology, and is committed to helping founders identify and take on the industry’s greatest challenges. A long critic of the market’s feature saturation (rather than products), he has his eyes set on helping steer true market disruptors capable of causing meaningful industry progress.

Justin is the perfect resource to support ambitious entrepreneurs as they grow their visions into industry titans, and we are honored by his commitment to work fulltime with us and our companies. We are also very pleased by how excited our current portfolio company founders are about this new, enriched access to his time, expertise and community.

With his charisma, dedication, enthusiasm and prestige, Justin’s addition is a momentous event for the entire YL Ventures family. What an exciting way to kick off 2024!