Cybersecurity is present in everybody’s life in one way or another. The most common tools from the cybersecurity industry in our day-to-day are ID verification processes and antivirus software, even when we can’t see them working. In recent years, the world has been racing towards developments in cyberdefence, and not only corporations, but governments and e-commerce sectors, have been investing in protecting their operations and shielding their networks from identity thefts, hackers invasions, online fraud and cyber attacks.
In this article we list 10 startups from Europe that are shining in this crowded and difficult cybersecurity market, with a special mention for London – where 4 out of the 10 startups come from. As a cyber defence solutions hub, the UK is only behind the US and Israel, as it invests heavily the cyber security ecosystem.
Poland, Spain, France, Iceland, Germany and Switzerland complete our list with interesting and accomplished representatives, and some of them appeared recently on EU-Startups.
Red Sift – Founded in 2015 by Rahul Powar and Randal Pinto in London, Red Sift is a data-driven cybersecurity business that uses machine learning to analyze and synthesize data from core business communications channels, such as email. Red Sift offers scalable SaaS solutions and already boasts major clients including TransferWise, Telefonica, Action for Children, and so on. With two new points of operation in the US in San Francisco, CA and Austin, TX, that opened in 2020 and with a new DevOps office in Barcelona, it recently raised €8 million in a series A round.
Digital Fingerprints – Digital Fingerprints was founded in 2017 in Katowice, Poland by Krzysztof Raczyński, Mateusz Chrobok, and Sebastian Czarnota. In the same year, it raised €1.8 million. The startup offers an authentication solution that uses Artificial Intelligence and behavioral biometrics to provide continuous authentication, without credentials, log in, token of other vulnerable forms of acessing systems. In other words, it continously authenticates the identity of users for third party softwares through how the users behave and complete their tasks online rather than through what they do only. We also included this startup in our list of 10 Polish startups to watch in 2019 and beyond.
Authenteq – Authenteq was founded in 2015 by Adam H. Martin, Kari Thor Runarsson and Runar Karlsson in Iceland. With offices in Reykjavik and Berlin, the startup offers an authentication and digital identity platform that allows users to verify their identity immediately – as the new user takes a selfie and the software compares this photo with the information stored in the NFC chip of his/her passport. The ‘Authenteq ID’ is owned and controlled by the user whose identity details are saved on the blockchain, helping to prevent identity theft and fraud. It has raised €6.4 million so far, with the last round being for €4.4 million in 2019, and is on its way to being the solutions used by many across Europe.
Right of Reply – Right of Reply was founded in 2016 by Alfredo Maria Villa in London. The company provides technical solutions against fake news and online defamation, and, in particular, it helps users with personal attack on social media and blogs. With its patented methodology, it offers affordable and quick legal solutions to consumers and companies alike. Through the startup’s online platform, users can respond to negative, erroneous or defamatory content according to timeline and relevance factors. As a social enterprise, it has a huge social impact in this era of misinformation, and has raised €2.2 million via issuance of common shares.
Passbase – Passbase was founded by Dave McGibbon, Felix Gerlach and Mathias J. Klenk in 2018, in Berlin. It has raised €3.8 million, with the last round being in late 2019, and is building the first self-sovereign identity platform backed by verified government documents, linked social media accounts, and biometric signatures. The platform permits individuals to privately share their login credentials and government issued documents with companies and institutions that need them in full security.
Datadome – Founded in 2015 by Benjamin Fabre and Fabien Grenier in Paris, Datadome has already raised €3.6 million. The startup provides real-time bot protection for e-commerce and ad platforms. They are trusted by Rakuten, Trip Advisor, BlablaCar, among more than 10,000 e-commerce and classified websites worldwide. It runs on autopilot detecting unwanted traffic and protecting in real-time against OWASP automated threats like layer 7 DDoS attacks, SQL injection and intensive scraping, using Artificial Intelligence. The solution deploys in minutes on any web infrastructure, without having to make any change to your existing architecture, and is compatible with multi-cloud and multi-CDN setup.
Immuniweb – Founded by Ilia Kolochenko in 2019, in Geneva, ImmuniWeb provides AI-enabled Application Security Testing and Attack Surface Management SaaS solutions for web, mobile and IoT security testing. Besides that, it also offers digital asset inventory with actionable security ratings and Dark Web monitoring tailored to reduce complexity and operational costs. The startup has second office in Austin, Texas.
Senseon – Senseon was founded in 2017 by David Atkinson, in London. Senseon’s self-driving platform automates the process of threat detection, investigation and response. Its unique ‘AI Triangulation’ technology emulates how a human security analyst thinks and acts, by looking at behaviours of users and devices from multiple angles. The software pauses for thinking and analysis and learns from experience. This frees security teams from the burden of exhaustive analysis, alert fatigue and false positives, and helps Senseon’s platform to deploy “investigator bots” that monitor a network. It has raised €5.8 million in 2 investment rounds, the last in February 2019, and recently released an article on top tips to keep safe when working from home during COVID-19.
Arengu – Arengu was founded in 2018 by Jacobo Vidal, Sergio Regueira and Pablo Castro in La Coruña, Spain. The startup offers a SaaS tool that uses data verification and low-code automation to avoid online fraud – allowing companies to automate forms and improve user experience, making onboarding processes safer and more efficient. Today, Arengu processes more than 800,000 sign-ups every month and keeps on growing, working with both with small startups and big corporations, who claim they are able to eradicate signup fraud, like Grupo Posadas in Mexico. They recently raised €500K in February 2020.
OutThink – OutThink was founded in 2015 by Flavius Plesu, in London. The startup has been building one of the world’s first Predictive Human Risk Intelligence SaaS platforms. Its solution helps corporations identify and understand human risk in their teams in real time. The result? Employee originated data breach prevention. OutThink raised €1.4 million in February 2020, and boasts clients like Vodafone, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and FTSE 100 brands, and has offices in the UK, Greece and Romania.
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