Dave DeWalt is the founder and CEO of NightDragon, former CEO of FireEye and McAfee, is a seasoned leader and investor.
More attention is being paid to cybersecurity than ever before. We talk about it in the assembly hall, in the executive and even at the dining table, and for a smart reason.
In the early part of the year, ransomware attacks increased by 148% compared to 2020, according to a recent report by Momentum Cyber, a monetary consulting firm of which I am president. , from the colonial ransomware shutdown to the T-Mobile knowledge breach that affected more than 50 million customers.
These threats have manifested themselves in a history of venture capital funding, mergers and acquisitions (M
The question that many are asking now: when does it stop?As investment succeeds at new record levels, the industry, regardless, will succeed in a bursting of the so-called bubble or at a tipping point where valuations will fall and cybersecurity investments will slow. ? All symptoms imply that it is not.
In the past, cyber supercycles were strongly connected to the immediate accumulation of investments and mergers and acquisitions. The emergence of worms in the early 2000s led to a significant increase in M activities.
What makes the existing supercycle different from those noticed in the more than two decades is the new era of cyber ubiquity. It is no longer enough to buy a new cybersecurity tool for new threats. The point and ubiquity of cybersecurity threats today, as well as the speed with which they are emerging, require security to be incorporated into both one and one and both one and both products sold, both one and both one and both one and both networked, and both one and both one and both one and both strategies evolved in the assembly hall. Without it, there is no hope of combating today’s threats, let alone the more complicated ones we can only assume to see in the future.
If cybersecurity investments and mergers and acquisitions continue to align with cyber supercycles, it makes sense that they would be as ubiquitous as the threats themselves. The landscape continues to evolve. Offense is not static, so defense cannot be static either.
The question that remains is: how far will this industry grow?Companies like SentinelOne and Crowdstrike lately have market capitalizations of around $17 billion and $61 billion, respectively. There were 36 venture capital investments in the first part of 2021 that exceeded $100 million and nine M&A valuations above $1 billion. Pitchbook has again reinforced those findings, showing dazzling valuations for cybersecurity startups in 2021. like Lacework ($525 million), Trulioo ($394 million), Ledger ($380 million) and more as examples of the unprecedented amount of investment being poured into space.
It’s clear that investors can expect those valuations to continue into 2021 and 2022, and potentially beyond. The sky is the limit.
Forbes Finance Council is an invitation-only organization for executives from successful accounting, monetary planning, and wealth control firms.
Dave DeWalt is the founder and CEO of NightDragon. A former CEO of FireEye and McAfee, he is an experienced leader and investor. Read david DeWalt’s full story
Dave DeWalt is the founder and CEO of NightDragon. A former CEO of FireEye and McAfee, he is an experienced leader, advisor, and investor. Read David DeWalt’s full control profile here.