Cybersecurity firms get a boost due to Covid-19 fears

The Covid-19 pandemic has given a shot in the arm to startups offering cybersecurity products as businesses seek to thwart remote work threats, particularly with companies allowing their employees to work from home.

Startups Lucideus, WiJungle, Uniken, Kratikal and others are creating products for businesses and governments both in India and globally in a boost to the industry.

Palo Alto-based Lucideus, incubated at IIT Bombay in 2012, enables enterprises to measure and mitigate their cyber risks in real-time. “The June quarter has been one of the best quarters for our company. We have won multiple Fortune 50 logos, which are now using our platform. However, while order and revenue bookings are at an all-time high, cash collection has been a challenge,” said Saket Modi, co-founder and CEO, Lucideus.

Lucideus’s top clients include HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Sky, Pizza Hut and WhatsApp.

The Indian cybersecurity services industry is expected to grow to $7.6 billion in 2022 and register an average annual growth rate of 21% by 2025 to reach $13.6 billion, according to a recent Nasscom-Data Security Council of India report. The sector has also attracted investors as global spending on security is expected to accelerate after the pandemic.

For WiJungle, whose clients include both the government and private companies across hospitality, healthcare, education, financial services, retail, defence and transportation, Covid has been a mixed bag. “Post-covid, the contribution of the private sector in topline has significantly gone down, while government business is consistent…there are verticals which have become almost dormant, like hospitality etc.,” said Karmesh Gupta, CEO and co-founder of WiJungle.

However, cybersecurity startups are also dealing with many challenges. “The biggest challenge has been quantifying risk. No organisation can confidently predict the risk posture of the organisation and hence budget planning/risk analysis is flawed,” said Modi.