Cybersecurity concerns are rising

• Growing cybersecurity concerns addressed by large groups facing several challenges: (i) they need trust in their IT and (ii) they must have protected and resilient collaborative systems within their group.
• Large groups have extensive R&D investment plans to create cyber resilient capabilities (both in terms of process and technical solutions).
• Today, the most common threat that businesses are facing is ransomware, as it is very lucrative and relatively easy to do: a 20-year-old hacker can make up to c. €500k of revenue per year. Investments in protection and defence are therefore increasing.
• Covid-19 has reinforced the trend as Workers-from-Home use their own unsecured Wi-Fi network to connect to their working environment: this has increased the external surface to protect for IT departments. Cyber attacks on APIs have risen 7x over the last 12 month alone.

Tools used may be obsolete in a constantly changing environment 

• The challenge of being cyber resilient today lies in the fact that this is a very changing environment (velocity, new types of attacks); tools and practices become obsolete quickly.
• In France, despite many positive initiatives such as open XDR platforms allowing people to make relevant decisions quickly, the largest issue remains in the lack of qualified cybersecurity experts: while sensors are really essential to detect attacks on applications, systems and networks, staff is needed to be reactive in critical situations.
• All innovations come with concrete potential associated cyber risks: breaches in autonomous cars’ IT would be highly detrimental to people and to brand reputation. More in-depth solutions are thus needed.

Rising investments in recent years well needed to ensure European leadership

• 10 years ago, it was impossible to raise money in this sector in France or in Europe at early stage, investors were more interested by e-commerce companies than by deep tech ones; thus, cyber start-ups had no choice but to build innovative products to demonstrate value to customers, gain visibility and make money; this lack of funding is being filled thanks to the increasing awareness on how important it is to be well protected and because of the increasing cost related to cyber crime.
• An estimated $80bn were invested by Venture Capital firms, Private Equity and Growth Equity firms globally in cybersecurity. 75% of this amount is invested in US firms alone. There is a dire need for more investment in the dynamic European Cyber ecosystem, and for the protection and emergence of European champions, especially for new-generation cyber solutions.
• Move Capital’s objective is to contribute to an increase in the investments made by European players in cybersecurity to support European cyber ecosystem and protect European leadership and sovereignty.