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We’re taking a closer look at some of the cybersecurity start-ups in Ireland and further afield that are worth keeping an eye on.
The rise in cyberthreats can be intimidating but it also presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs with an idea of how to help businesses in the cybersecurity arena.
Ireland alone has seen amazing success in the cybersecurity space, with companies such as Integrity360 steadily making acquisitions to strengthen its portfolio, most recently with Holiseum.
Specifically in the start-up arena, Tines, which we have flagged before as a cybersecurity start-up to watch has just recently reached unicorn status after a $50m raise in a Series B round in February.
And Getvisibility, a cutting-edge AI company specialising in data security posture management, was just acquired by Forcepoint.
But there are so many more cybersecurity start-ups, both here and further afield that are worth keeping an eye on. Some have been steadily growing over several years, others exploded onto the scene in the last three years and have already got investors’ attention. Here are just 10 to take a closer look at.
Binalyze
Based in Tallinn, Binalyze specialises in digital forensics and incident response. It helps customers such as Turkish Airlines, Deloitte and EY to automate their response to potential breaches of their systems.
In September 2023, the company raised $19m in an investment led by Molten Ventures to further its presence in the breach investigation technology market.
Binarii Labs
Founded in 2021, Irish blockchain start-up Binarii Labs provides a range of services including secure end-to-end document management and assistance in migrating to distributed ledger technology infrastructure.
The Dublin-based company has raised a total of €3m, including a €400,000 investment from Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Start-up (HPSU) fund last year. This allows Binarii Labs to expand, with plans to create more than 100 new jobs by 2027.
Cytidel
Cytidel was established in 2021 by Matt Conlon and Conor Flannery. The Mayo start-up has created a vulnerability intelligence platform that helps organisations predict their most likely breaches and prioritise the fixes necessary to prevent them.
The company raised more than €1m in 2023 and in November last year, it bagged the top prize at the 2024 National Startup Awards. It was also recognised in the fintech category on the same night.
Dope Security
Dope Security is a US-based cybersecurity company founded in 2021. The company, which also has an office in Co Cork, claims to be “the world’s only fly-direct secure web gateway”.
When it emerged from stealth mode in 2022, Dope Security raised $4m in funding to expand its business globally. In 2023, it raised a further $16m in Series A funding, some of which was earmarked to expand its engineering team in Cork.
Filigran
Open-source cybersecurity platform Filigran was founded in France in 2022. The company’s flagship product, OpenCTI is a threat intelligence platform that lets users gather threat data from multiple sources in a single interface.
In February last year, the company raised €15m in Series A funding to expand to the US and Australia and, a few months later, it secured $35m in Series B funding to continue its global expansion.
OnSecurity
Bristol-based cybersecurity start-up OnSecurity was founded by Irishman Conor O’Neill. The company focuses on penetrative testing, which refers to authorised simulated cyberattacks designed to assess an organisation’s security vulnerabilities.
The company raised £5.5m in a Series A investment round in 2024, its first round of equity since it was established in 2018.
Quantum Industries
Cybersecurity is increasingly going hand in hand with quantum computing and Vienna-based Quantum Industries is riding that wave, having been founded in 2023.
The company aims to secure global communications against the looming threat of quantum computing and its founders have decades of tech and quantum experience between them. Earlier this month, the company scored $10m in seed funding.
Siren
Galway-based Siren was founded in 2014 and aims to help law enforcement agencies and related organisations around the world to make complex searches, organise results visually and create advanced reports to share findings with their teams.
In 2023, the Irish start-up received a €12m investment from the European Investment Bank to develop its ‘investigative intelligence’ platform and bring it to a wider audience. In the same year, it also won the Deloitte Fast 50 Scale-Up Award.
Socket
Founded in 2021, US cybersecurity start-up Socket heralds itself as a “developer-first security platform” that aims to protect critical apps from software supply chain attacks in real time.
In October 2024, the company secured $40m in a funding round led by Abstract Ventures, with participation from Elad Gil, Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) and a group of angel investors. The funding brings the company’s total raise to $65m.
Vaultree
Cork is home to a strong cybersecurity cluster that includes Vaultree, which has developed a software development kit that enables organisations of any type to benefit from fully functional data-in-use encryption.
The company closed a $12.8m Series A growth investment round in 2022 and was named in World Economic Forum list of top global start-ups in 2023.
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