The launch of Symantec Ventures comes as Symantec moves to become a platform vendor that is more open and sits at the center of a security ecosystem, including forming partnerships and sharing integrations, APIs, and threat data. Clark said Symantec Ventures is another example of Symantec looking to build an ecosystem around its Cyber Defense Platform to bring together best of breed security technologies, including with its competition.

"We have always been a very strong supporter of innovation … We are fierce competitors in the [total addressable markets] that we have core product in, but we are also committed to best of breed. We know security moves fast … and we see that as a benefit to us and the open platform matters," Clark said.

Clark said Symantec Ventures could be "helpful" for future mergers and acquisitions by Symantec, which the company has indicated are in its plan, but it is "definitely not required."

Jason Eberhardt, vice president of strategic alliances at Chicago-based Conventus, said the launch is "super exciting," saying it shows Symantec is willing to invest in innovation, particularly around emerging areas like artificial intelligence, data analytics and reporting.

"This is the kind of stuff that shows they're moving forward," Eberhardt said.

Eberhardt said he is also glad to see Symantec is willing to put its money where its mouth is when it comes industry integration and creating a security ecosystem of third-party vendors.

"Symantec's portfolio has obviously expanded … but there are still some technologies out there that either customers want to work with or large companies want to deal with. Integrating that makes it easier to do the security posturing for those companies. It's just all around positive," Eberhardt said.