Having developed a cybersecurity human risk management platform, OutThink has just raised about €10 million. The startup is taking a new approach to cybersecurity, one that aims to make people part of the solution, and is set to expand internationally.
Cybersecurity is a fundamental part of any modern business – and it’s increasingly finding new challenges and risks to overcome. Whilst security incidents and data breaches can, and do, come about from external threats, internal problems are actually the core causes. It’s reported that human error lies at the heart of about 90% of security problems and breaches.
With this awareness, it’s natural to assume that human behaviour can be the problem – and a cybersecurity challenge that businesses need to address. But, according to OutThink, people and employees can actually be the solution, they just need to be more cyber aware and teams need to have measurable insights over patterns of behaviour.
The startup has now raised €10 million to develop its platform that is setting out to rethink approaches to cyber security.
Funding details
This new €10 million seed funding round was led by Albion VC. TriplePoint Ventures, Forward Partners, Gapminder and Innovate UK also participated.
The SaaS startup will use it to continue expanding its leadership and accelerate international distribution as its solution continues to gain market traction. The funding follows a year in which OutThink’s enterprise annual recurring revenue (ARR) quadrupled.
Flavius Plesu, Founder and CEO of OutThink, said: “The idea for OutThink was born out of frustration that existing solutions on the market were failing, yet it also came from a passionate belief that if we engaged people beyond traditional security awareness training into human risk management, we could make them the organisation’s strongest defence mechanism. We are delighted to welcome AlbionVC, TriplePoint and Gapminder to our team as we create a new category within the cybersecurity solutions market.”
Cybersecurity human risk management platform
Founded in 2015 by a team of Chief Information Security Officers, security experts, and researchers and is led by CEO Flavius Plesu, OutThink was born out of frustration that existing, first-generation security awareness solutions on the market are failing businesses and their staff.
Despite considerable investment in cybersecurity technology and generic awareness training, organisations today still carry a significant level of risk. A risk that is so substantial, the World Economic Forum ranks cyberattacks as one of the top three biggest threats of the decade, alongside weapons of mass destruction and climate change.
This threat is exacerbated by the growing prevalence of remote working, which increases the number of potential attack points, as well as phishing (the cause of 36% of breaches worldwide).
OutThink aims to build a more sustainable approach to security, making people a defence mechanism, rather than a risk. By leveraging machine learning, natural language processing and applied psychology, OutThink is able to identify the attitudes, intentions and sentiments of individuals within an organisation. The platform combines this human intelligence with data from integrated Microsoft Defender and Sentinel to present live dashboards visually showcasing the overall human risk picture at a department, group or organisation level.
From there, it’s over to the CISOs who can deliver targeted training that not only educates but allows security teams to listen and learn from their people.
This approach makes the London-based startup’s platform one of the first to measure real security behaviours, reveal unique patterns of risk across an organisation, and prevent data breaches in a different way.
Already trusted by a number of large organisations around the world, including Whirlpool, Danske Bank, Rothschild, NatWest and other FTSE 100 brands, the company operates from offices located across Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific.
Danske Bank’s Security Training and Awareness Lead, Mihaela Hozmache: “OutThink is probably the best cybersecurity training and awareness platform out there. But this is not just about innovative technology. This is about people. What struck me from day one of working with OutThink is the professionalism and dedication of its people. I’ve never seen this type of commitment and level of service from any of the vendors and consultants I’ve ever worked with.”
It’ll now accelerate plans for international distribution and continue to shake up cybersecurity.
Cat McDonald, Investment Director at AlbionVC, commented: “Flavius’s vision for OutThink and his ambition to overturn outdated and conventional thinking around cybersecurity are rapidly being realised because his team understand implicitly what their customers need. By designing a product with enterprise CISOs expressly in mind, OutThink has fast-tracked customer growth amongst some of the world’s biggest companies and we are excited to see what the team achieves next.”
