How to Find Innovative Cybersecurity Startups

*Updated October 2022

Cybersecurity is an increasingly important field. Last year, we witnessed a rise in cybercrime such as ransomware. Hackers are organizing and combining attack vectors to launch large-scale attacks. New cybersecurity challenges result in the need for new, innovative, and integrated cybersecurity solutions.

Luckily, as hackers become better at their jobs, so do digital security teams and cybersecurity startups. At the same time, governments and supranational organizations are putting in the effort to instate policies that improve CS not just on a federal level but also in private companies and organizations.

To put it plainly, soon, companies will likely have to comply with certain cybersecurity regulations. Some examples are the NIS2 directive in the EU or the fact that CISOs (Chief Information Security Officer) may soon become mandatory in US board rooms. So it’s never been a better time to look for new cybersecurity technologies, IT security solutions, and cybersecurity startups that can revolutionize the way we protect our data.

But for investors, CTOs, and R&D teams finding innovative cybersecurity startups is always a challenge. Where do they start the search? Is there a way to simplify and speed up the process? Today, we will go through some traditional and new methods that you can use to make a well-informed decision. We will talk about research, consultancy firms, and our platform - Valuer - as ways to discover top cybersecurity startups.

Let’s take a look at each approach to find cybersecurity startups along with new cybersecurity solutions and technologies.

Search engines

Today, most of our research begins with search engines like Bing, Yahoo, and really - mostly Google. When it comes to searching for new cybersecurity technologies, information technology security, or cybersecurity companies, it’s always tricky to get insights that are relevant to you. After all, these search engines aren’t exactly designed to provide the sort of specific information that you are looking for.

For instance, if you Google “top cybersecurity startups,” you’re likely to end up with a couple of lists on high-ranking websites with optimized keywords. Ideally, those texts would be written by professionals - but that’s not always the case. You may end up with a list of cybersecurity companies that are well-established and far past the investment stage, or you may end up looking at multiple texts that recycle the same information - or the same top cybersecurity startups - over and over again.

Essentially, while search engines are incredibly useful– for our intents and purposes, they usually don’t provide the best or most relevant information. They’re just not made that way as that’s not their principal purpose.

In any case, search engines aren’t ideal for helping you find cybersecurity companies, especially new cybersecurity startups that are highly promising and likely to:

• Be a good investment or partnership opportunity
  
  
• Offer new cybersecurity technologies that could be disruptive
  
  
• Be early-stage startups and not yet popular

What search engines are good at is checking out the professional backgrounds of the startup’s founders once you have a specific cybersecurity company in mind.

Consultancy firms

Consultancy firms can do some of the research on cybersecurity startups and then present relevant information to R&D teams and investors. This eases the process, as rather than doing everything from scratch and braving through mounds of irrelevant data, you are immediately given relevant results.

The issue here is outsourcing. You’re placing yourself outside the process. It’s too hands-off. Even if you share what metrics are most valuable to you with the consultancy firm - like “I’m looking for new cybersecurity technologies, information technology cybersecurity (IT cybersecurity), early-stage cybersecurity companies, etc.,” something could still easily slip through the cracks. In other words, when someone from the inside - be it someone from your R&D team, IT team, or chief-anything-officer - doesn’t partake in the different stages of the research process, you could easily miss a great opportunity.

That leaves us with the question: how can you combine the amount of data that search engines offer with the sort of relevance that consultancy firms provide?

The answer is quite simply Valuer.

Valuer

We combine the best of both worlds - data and analytics - which will allow you to cut through massive amounts of data with razor-sharp filtering tools.

Valuer has a huge database of startups that are categorized under industry, technology, year of inception, geographic region/country, etc., so that anyone looking for a cybersecurity company can quickly and easily find it.

One of the additional tools on the platform that helps in search relevancy is our "Discover companies using specific technologies" feature, which uses AI and ML to return results as relevant to the query as possible. Plus, not only can you use the tech features offered on the platform - you can also request additional bespoke reports - or deep-dive reports - that are prepared by our team.

Basically, not only do you get a giant database at your fingertips, but you also get the opportunity to receive valuable insights from our research team.

But let us show you how it works with examples of the various tools at your disposal.

Find companies based on industry

The "Explore industries" feature provides a library of industries, their sub-industries, and brief overviews of each item. Once you select an industry, let’s say Information Technology, you get a cluster map that color-codes all IT startups based on what sub-industry they belong to. The dots’ - or startups’ - proximity to each other also indicates how similar they are. Some startups will fall into multiple sub-industries.

In any case, once you select a sub-industry, you can apply additional filters to the search results. For instance, we selected the “cybersecurity” sub-industry and here are some results:

• Cyberinc
  
  
• Cybersecurity Risk Solutions

Find cybersecurity solutions based on technology

You can also search for the top cybersecurity startups using the "Explore technologies" tool. This feature allows you to find companies using new cybersecurity technologies that are popular or trending, as we regularly update the database to include cybersecurity innovations and innovations in any sector, really.

On the platform, “cybersecurity” is included in the technology profiles of Cybersecurity in Fintech and AI in Cybersecurity.

Let’s use the former as an example. When clicking on the "Cybersecurity in Fintech" profile, we got a list of cybersecurity companies. From here, we decided to further narrow it down and filtered by success. Take a look at some profiles we found:

• CyberSmart
  
  
• IronNet Cybersecurity

Find look-alikes of popular cybersecurity companies

If you liked a cybersecurity startup that you came across and would like to find more like it, or if you have an older, well-established cybersecurity company in mind and want to find the new kid on the block offering similar cybersecurity solutions, you can use the "look-alikes" feature.

For instance, we looked for startups similar to Palo Alto Networks, one of the biggest cybersecurity companies in the world. Some results included:

• Simeon Networks
  
• InPhySec Security

Discover companies using new cybersecurity technologies

The AI-driven search on the platform allows you to specify what you’re looking for in plain human language and generates relevant results along the search query. For instance, we looked for something extremely simple, "cloud security startups," to see what would come up. Of course, you can always go more in-depth when you need.

This feature can also help you track new cybersecurity technologies.

Order reports

Independently of the platform, you can order a bespoke report that will be prepared by our team of analysts. These reports feature in-depth information on whatever you ask for: target market, technology, cluster, industry, or sub-industry.

Then, once you’re on the platform and on a certain company's profile, you may submit a research request and receive a company profile enrichment if you need details about that company’s team, funding, customers, etc.

[Related Article - How to Pinpoint Innovation With Valuer Reports]

Lastly, you may also request a technology deep dive and our research team will provide you with everything you need to know about a certain technology. In our case, that would mean trends in cybersecurity, cybersecurity innovations, and perhaps IT security solutions such as cloud security solutions if that's what you asked for specifically in your request.

Add to radars

As you go along and find companies you like, you can save them in lists called radars, which can be saved for your own reference or shared with others. Radars are like the Spotify playlists of startups, really. You get to save individual company profiles in custom lists that you build yourself.

Radars are quite useful in several instances. First, it allows you to save companies that you like in folders, so they’re easy to access. Second, as we’ve mentioned, you can share these lists with others on your team. Third, you can build multiple radars and categorize the startups you're interested in based on custom criteria, like industry or sub-industry, maturity, etc. This provides a simple overview of what you have so far.

Find the top cybersecurity startups by working smart, not hard

Essentially, Valuer narrows down the possibilities to only those relevant to people looking for innovative cybersecurity solutions. Then it allows you to have a simple, no-fuss overview of the industry you’re interested in and cybersecurity companies that fit particular criteria. As we could see, you can even use the platform to find startups using specific, new cybersecurity technologies that could enrich the value of your company with their cutting-edge innovation.

So, while the more traditional methods still work - doing research from scratch or hiring an agency - they’re not without their downsides. Research takes a lot of time, and agencies as an outsourcing solution may unwittingly leave you in the dark about things you actually want to know .

Valuer allows you to gain actionable insights about a cybersecurity startup’s technology, team, funding, market, industry, and everything else you may need with a few clicks on the platform. You'll quickly see the indisputable benefits of human and machine working together, which is what we, at Valuer, do.