With the rise of malicious hacks and massive data breaches comes the rush of investment in cybersecurity startups offering innovative solutions. New York-based BlueVoyant is one of the latest to capitalize on this industry trend, raking in $82.5 million in a Series B funding round at a valuation exceeding $430 million, as TechCrunch reports.
Participants in this round include both new and existing investors, although the company only disclosed the name of one fintech company, Fiserv. BlueVoyant co-founder, Tom Glocer, who also is the former CEO of Thomson Reuters, spoke to TechCrunch about how he and co-founder and CEO Jim Rosenthal arrived at the idea for the startup.
“Here was an incredibly strategic, smart fellow in charge of operations,” he said of Rosenthal, who was COO of Morgan Stanley. “When it came time for him to retire, he told me he wanted to do one more big thing, but in a more entrepreneurial fashion. I suggested to him that the next step could be to work on [cybersecurity], which we were focusing on at Morgan Stanley.”
The duo built their company with the needs of enterprise companies in mind, according to the outlet, recruiting from well-pedigreed talent pools such as the NSA and the FBI and expanding operations to Israel, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Philippines.
“My view is that for firms with very good cyber defenses, external cyber intelligence is important because you can’t defend everything equally.”
The company’s offerings, which it now provides to some 150 customers, include threat intelligence, managed security and security-related professional services, according to TechCrunch.
Rosenthal told TechCrunch that it's important to have a "good actionable defense," when it comes to cybersecurity, because "you can't defend everything equally." he said he believes companies need a diverse set of strategies to defend against cybersecurity attacks. And since not everyone can afford to hire their own internal cybersecurity talent, a service that manages their security for them is useful, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses.