Ted Schlein

Ted Schlein
Nationality	American
Occupation	Venture capitalist
Employer	Ballistic Ventures
Known for	Co-founding Ballistic Ventures; cybersecurity investing at Kleiner Perkins

Ted Schlein is an American venture capitalist who has built a career as one of the most prominent investors in the cybersecurity industry. He spent more than two decades as a partner at Kleiner Perkins, one of Silicon Valley's most established venture capital firms, where he became known as a leading business-to-business (B2B) investor with a particular focus on information security companies. After departing Kleiner Perkins following a period of restructuring at the firm, Schlein co-founded Ballistic Ventures, a venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to cybersecurity startups, which has grown rapidly since its inception. In venture capital circles, Schlein is recognized as a figure whose commentary on cybersecurity trends and national security policy carries significant weight. His career has spanned decades of investment in the sector, and he has been involved in public discourse on topics including the creation of a cabinet-level Department of Cybersecurity in the United States.

Career

Kleiner Perkins

Ted Schlein spent a substantial portion of his career at Kleiner Perkins, the storied Silicon Valley venture capital firm known for its early investments in companies such as Google, Amazon, and Genentech. At Kleiner Perkins, Schlein built a reputation as one of the firm's star B2B investors, with a particular concentration in cybersecurity and enterprise technology. He was described by Dark Reading in 2017 as "a partner with the most storied venture capital fund in Silicon Valley," noting that "when Ted talks about cybersecurity, people listen."

During his tenure, Schlein was involved in steering Kleiner Perkins' investments in the cybersecurity sector during a period of rapid growth in the industry. The rise of large-scale data breaches, nation-state cyber threats, and the increasing digitization of business operations created significant demand for cybersecurity solutions, and Schlein positioned himself as one of the venture capital industry's foremost experts in identifying and funding companies addressing these challenges.

Schlein's time at Kleiner Perkins also coincided with a period of significant internal change at the firm. In the mid-to-late 2010s, Kleiner Perkins underwent what Business Insider described as "a couple of years of messy restructuring." The firm split its operations and rebranded certain elements of its business. Schlein played a role in helping the firm navigate through this transitional period before ultimately departing to pursue his own venture.

Founding of Ballistic Ventures

After leaving Kleiner Perkins, Schlein co-founded Ballistic Ventures, a venture capital firm focused exclusively on investing in cybersecurity startups. The firm was established with a clear thesis: that cybersecurity represented a large enough and sufficiently specialized market to warrant a dedicated investment vehicle, staffed by partners with deep domain expertise in the field.

News of Schlein's departure from Kleiner Perkins and the establishment of Ballistic Ventures was reported in October 2021 by Business Insider, which noted his move as part of a broader set of venture capital hiring and departure announcements.

Ballistic Ventures experienced rapid growth in its early years. By March 2024, approximately two years after its founding, the firm had already raised a second fund totaling $360 million, a significant accomplishment for a relatively new venture capital firm. TechCrunch reported on this fundraise, noting Schlein's track record at Kleiner Perkins as a key factor in attracting limited partners to the new fund.

The firm continued its fundraising trajectory into 2025. In April 2025, TechCrunch reported that Ballistic Ventures was in the process of raising $100 million for a new fund. Reporting by AIM Media House in April 2025 indicated that Ballistic Ventures' total capital under management had reached approximately $600 million, and the new $100 million fund was intended to further back what the firm described as "cyber's best" startups.

Investment Strategy and Focus Areas

Schlein's investment strategy at Ballistic Ventures has centered on the intersection of cybersecurity and emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence. In 2025, AIM Media House examined how Ballistic Ventures approached the intersection of AI and cybersecurity investments, detailing the firm's strategy of backing startups that leverage AI for defensive security purposes as well as those developing solutions to protect AI systems from adversarial attacks.

In a September 2023 interview with Business Insider, Schlein identified three new trends in cybersecurity that he believed warranted close attention from investors and the broader industry. While the specific trends were detailed in the interview, the piece underscored Schlein's role as a thought leader whose assessments of the cybersecurity landscape carried influence among entrepreneurs, corporate security officers, and fellow investors.

Schlein's approach to venture investing in cybersecurity has been distinguished by his emphasis on deep sector specialization. Unlike generalist venture capital firms that allocate portions of their portfolios to cybersecurity alongside investments in consumer technology, healthcare, or other verticals, Ballistic Ventures was designed from its inception to focus entirely on the cybersecurity domain. This specialization has allowed the firm to build concentrated expertise and relationships within the cybersecurity ecosystem, from enterprise customers and government agencies to academic researchers and security practitioners.

Public Policy Engagement

Beyond his investment activities, Schlein has been a participant in public discourse on cybersecurity policy in the United States. In June 2019, The Wall Street Journal published a feature examining whether the United States needed a cabinet-level Department of Cybersecurity, a debate in which Schlein contributed his perspective. The article explored arguments for and against such a department, with proponents suggesting that a dedicated agency could better coordinate the nation's cyber defenses, while opponents cautioned that bureaucratic reorganization might weaken existing defense capabilities.

Schlein's involvement in such policy discussions reflected a broader engagement with national security issues that extended beyond his role as a venture capitalist. His experience investing in cybersecurity companies over many years gave him a perspective on the practical challenges faced by organizations defending against cyber threats, a viewpoint that informed his contributions to policy debates about how the U.S. government should organize its cybersecurity resources and responsibilities.

In his 2017 interview with Dark Reading, Schlein discussed his views on the state of the cybersecurity industry, the evolving threat landscape, and the role of venture capital in fostering innovation in the sector. The interview highlighted his standing within the cybersecurity community as an investor whose opinions on market direction and technological development were closely followed by industry participants.

Recognition

Ted Schlein's prominence in the venture capital and cybersecurity industries has been reflected in sustained media coverage across major business and technology publications. Dark Reading, a prominent cybersecurity trade publication, profiled him in 2017 under the headline "Interview With a Capitalist," recognizing his influence in shaping investment in the security sector. Business Insider described him in 2023 as "one of the most successful VCs in cybersecurity," a characterization that reflected his track record of investments over more than two decades.

The rapid fundraising success of Ballistic Ventures has itself been cited as evidence of the market's confidence in Schlein's expertise. The firm's ability to raise a $360 million second fund within approximately two years of its founding was noted by TechCrunch as a notable achievement in the venture capital industry, where newer firms often face challenges in attracting institutional capital. The subsequent effort to raise an additional $100 million fund, bringing total capital under management to approximately $600 million or more, further demonstrated the market's receptiveness to Schlein's investment thesis and management.

Schlein's transition from a major established firm like Kleiner Perkins to a new independent venture was tracked by multiple business publications, reflecting the level of industry interest in his career moves and the broader significance attributed to his decisions within the venture capital community.

Legacy

Ted Schlein's career represents one of the longest and most concentrated records of venture capital investment in the cybersecurity industry. His tenure at Kleiner Perkins positioned him at the center of Silicon Valley's engagement with information security at a time when cybersecurity evolved from a niche concern to a critical business and national security priority. By subsequently founding Ballistic Ventures as a firm dedicated entirely to cybersecurity investing, Schlein helped establish the concept that cybersecurity could sustain a specialized, sector-focused venture capital firm rather than remaining a subset of broader enterprise technology investing.

The growth of Ballistic Ventures, from its founding in the early 2020s to managing approximately $600 million in capital by 2025, illustrated the increasing importance of cybersecurity as a distinct investment category. The firm's focus on the intersection of AI and cybersecurity placed it at the center of two of the most significant technological trends of the 2020s, with implications for both commercial markets and national defense.

Schlein's contributions to public policy discussions, including his participation in debates about the structure of U.S. government cybersecurity institutions, extended his influence beyond the venture capital industry into broader questions about how nations organize their defenses against digital threats. His career trajectory—from partner at one of Silicon Valley's most established firms to founder of a specialized cybersecurity-focused fund—reflected broader shifts in the venture capital industry toward deeper sector specialization and the growing recognition of cybersecurity as a foundational technology concern rather than an ancillary one.