Where to get a half million for a cybersecurity startup
In the information security market is a very interesting time. In the first quarter of 2015, US start-up projects operating in the field of information security attracted $ 1.02 billion in investments, while for the whole of 2011 the amount was less than $ 1 billion. Investment funds and venture capital divisions of companies are increasingly looking for new projects in anticipation of a sharp increase in budgets allocated to security, the Financial Times notes , citing a PrivCo study.
The reasons for such rapid growth are more than enough, and everyone has heard about them. The hacker attacks on Sony Pictures and Home Depot, Apple’s “photo scandals”, the loss of confidence in Bitcoin, the appearance of Heartbleed and Shellshock’s “vulnerabilities of the century” in 2014, and the tightening of regulators in almost all leading countries after such chaos.
According to analysts Gartner, in 2015, spending on information security will increase by 8.2% and amount to $ 76.9 billion. The amount is significant, but the reasons for this are no less significant. The hacker attacks deprived Sony Pictures of $ 100 million, and the damage to the sixth US retailer, Target, is estimated at $ 162 million. In the case of the American discounter, the KAPTOXA program (later renamed BlackPOS) served as a weapon.
')
Most of the ideas on information protection that investors have noticed over the past couple of years revolve around cloud and mobile security, as well as behavioral analysis technologies, as Dark Reading columnist Ericka Chickowski notes.
A year ago, Erika published a list of 20 successful startups in the field of cybersecurity. Bluebox Security took first place in it, managing to raise $ 18 million last January, helping to ensure the security of corporate data on employees' mobile devices.
The numbers have changed noticeably in 2015. In the ranking of security startups expert Tim Green (Tim Greene), Illumio is in the first place, which received $ 100 million investment. Analytical systems of this startup analyze suspicious activity and interrelations between various applications and databases, and if something disagrees with the norm, an alarm signal is given.
Now, large companies not only invest a lot, but also willingly acquire information security start-ups, often giving them a fortune. AirWatch’s $ 1.54 billion specialists are now helping VMware protect mobile devices, and the Israeli firm CyActive has become the property of PayPal for $ 60 million. Based on scientific advances in biology, CyActive is developing predictive cyber security solutions, including technologies for predicting possible exploit variations. Earlier, a startup Fraud Sciences, engaged in development in the field of network security, joined PayPal for $ 169 million. In November 2014, Microsoft announced the purchase of another Israeli startup, Aorato, for $ 200 million. Its main product is the detection technology of complex cyber attacks by analyzing the behavior of devices operating in the corporate environment. Interestingly, in the top 20 of Erica Chikowski, Aorato was only in sixth place.
Is a similar situation possible in the near future in Russia? We are going to check it out during the PHDays V forum, which will be held on May 26 and 27. Big business is always interested not only in saving, but also in saving their funds. In addition, it is worth remembering that a recession in the economy has never prevented new players from appearing if they could offer something necessary: ​​during the Great Depression, a Zippo lighter appeared, and a little later in the California Palo Alto garage with an investment of $ 538 HP was created .
Almaz Capital Investment Fund holds an open competition among start-up projects in the field of cyber security. At the competition, you must submit at least a prototype of a solution, service or product that users could try. The further you progress in your project, the better. The main requirement for applications - competitiveness in the global market.
Any development teams and engineers can take part in the competition. To create your company for this stage is not required, but the team must be recruited.
The winner will be selected by an expert jury on May 27, 2015 at the stage of presentation by participants of their projects at Positive Hack Days. The jury will include employees of leading venture capital firms and information security companies.
Almaz Capital will be represented by General Partner Jeffrey Baer , an entrepreneur and former Chief Technology Officer for Network Technologies at Sun Microsystems, and Managing Partner Alexander Galitsky , the founder of several software development companies. The names of the jury members will be announced soon, but for now, follow the news on almazcapital.com .
The winner of the competition will receive 1,500,000 rubles from Almaz Capital for the further development of the project, which will be presented to large venture capital companies from Silicon Valley, such as Greylock, Mohr Davidow, USVP and LDV.
The presentation or description of the project must be sent to the email address hack@almazcapital.com before 12:00 05/27/2015. For teams that have submitted their projects for the competition before May 15, 2015, Almaz Capital experts are ready to assist in the preparation of a presentation for a speech to the jury.
The reasons for such rapid growth are more than enough, and everyone has heard about them. The hacker attacks on Sony Pictures and Home Depot, Apple’s “photo scandals”, the loss of confidence in Bitcoin, the appearance of Heartbleed and Shellshock’s “vulnerabilities of the century” in 2014, and the tightening of regulators in almost all leading countries after such chaos.
According to analysts Gartner, in 2015, spending on information security will increase by 8.2% and amount to $ 76.9 billion. The amount is significant, but the reasons for this are no less significant. The hacker attacks deprived Sony Pictures of $ 100 million, and the damage to the sixth US retailer, Target, is estimated at $ 162 million. In the case of the American discounter, the KAPTOXA program (later renamed BlackPOS) served as a weapon.
')
Most of the ideas on information protection that investors have noticed over the past couple of years revolve around cloud and mobile security, as well as behavioral analysis technologies, as Dark Reading columnist Ericka Chickowski notes.
A year ago, Erika published a list of 20 successful startups in the field of cybersecurity. Bluebox Security took first place in it, managing to raise $ 18 million last January, helping to ensure the security of corporate data on employees' mobile devices.
The numbers have changed noticeably in 2015. In the ranking of security startups expert Tim Green (Tim Greene), Illumio is in the first place, which received $ 100 million investment. Analytical systems of this startup analyze suspicious activity and interrelations between various applications and databases, and if something disagrees with the norm, an alarm signal is given.
Now, large companies not only invest a lot, but also willingly acquire information security start-ups, often giving them a fortune. AirWatch’s $ 1.54 billion specialists are now helping VMware protect mobile devices, and the Israeli firm CyActive has become the property of PayPal for $ 60 million. Based on scientific advances in biology, CyActive is developing predictive cyber security solutions, including technologies for predicting possible exploit variations. Earlier, a startup Fraud Sciences, engaged in development in the field of network security, joined PayPal for $ 169 million. In November 2014, Microsoft announced the purchase of another Israeli startup, Aorato, for $ 200 million. Its main product is the detection technology of complex cyber attacks by analyzing the behavior of devices operating in the corporate environment. Interestingly, in the top 20 of Erica Chikowski, Aorato was only in sixth place.
Is a similar situation possible in the near future in Russia? We are going to check it out during the PHDays V forum, which will be held on May 26 and 27. Big business is always interested not only in saving, but also in saving their funds. In addition, it is worth remembering that a recession in the economy has never prevented new players from appearing if they could offer something necessary: ​​during the Great Depression, a Zippo lighter appeared, and a little later in the California Palo Alto garage with an investment of $ 538 HP was created .
Contest Rules
Almaz Capital Investment Fund holds an open competition among start-up projects in the field of cyber security. At the competition, you must submit at least a prototype of a solution, service or product that users could try. The further you progress in your project, the better. The main requirement for applications - competitiveness in the global market.
Any development teams and engineers can take part in the competition. To create your company for this stage is not required, but the team must be recruited.
The winner will be selected by an expert jury on May 27, 2015 at the stage of presentation by participants of their projects at Positive Hack Days. The jury will include employees of leading venture capital firms and information security companies.
Almaz Capital will be represented by General Partner Jeffrey Baer , an entrepreneur and former Chief Technology Officer for Network Technologies at Sun Microsystems, and Managing Partner Alexander Galitsky , the founder of several software development companies. The names of the jury members will be announced soon, but for now, follow the news on almazcapital.com .
The winner of the competition will receive 1,500,000 rubles from Almaz Capital for the further development of the project, which will be presented to large venture capital companies from Silicon Valley, such as Greylock, Mohr Davidow, USVP and LDV.
The presentation or description of the project must be sent to the email address hack@almazcapital.com before 12:00 05/27/2015. For teams that have submitted their projects for the competition before May 15, 2015, Almaz Capital experts are ready to assist in the preparation of a presentation for a speech to the jury.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/256461/
All Articles