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Why Venture Capitalists Are Still Investing In Cybersecurity

Enterprise startups can be placed into one of two categories: those who create value and those who protect it. Today, what is most valuable is data, but as leaks, hacks, and breaches become sadly common, customers and companies alike are forced to take a critical look at their relationships with data.

However, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for every company. What makes it even more difficult is that the cybersecurity startup field is crowded, ultimately weighing down chief security officers with a torrent of data without the clear visibility and understanding they seek.

But for venture capitalists, who seek to pick the right cybersecurity startups for investment, the industry is a potential goldmine — and through their research and diligence, these investors sometimes provide a great indication of who the most trusted voices in the field really are.

Amit Karp, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners acknowledges the overcrowding problem. “Unfortunately, the cybersecurity landscape is overcrowded with many vendors that offer point solutions,” Karp told Tech Crunch. “I believe CISOs are tired of deploying additional security products which for the most part have overlapping functionality. So I am very cautious with additional tools that are deployed inside the enterprise perimeter (network, endpoint, etc.). I am looking for companies that can be deployed quickly and demonstrate immediate value to CISOs, and do not overwhelm the CISO with many new alerts.”

In February, Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity startup Axonius Inc. raised a $13 million funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Karp simultaneously joined the cybersecurity startup’s board of directors.

Founded in 2017, Axonius has raised $17 million in total, boasting The New York Times and marketing analytics company AppsFlyer Ltd. as customers. Karp’s seal of approval is important for the emerging company whose idiosyncratic methods mark it as a future leader in the field.

“I think there are still many opportunities to improve application security. The combination of every company becoming a software company on the one hand and development environments becoming more chaotic on the other hand results in many new risks and opportunities in securing your software,” Karp said when asked about trends in the industry that VCs may be missing. “This includes securing third-party APIs or open-source components which are outside your control and giving developers and DevOps engineers more security tools while not hindering the pace of development.”

Security isn’t just a problem for a company’s bottom line, it’s really a people problem. And it’s not only people creating the solutions, but it’s also people who are able to invest in these solutions that will fuel the charge in the protection of data.