In a significant leap forward for the cybersecurity sector, Eye Security has announced a €36 million Series B investment led by J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and TIN Capital.
The funding round marks “a new chapter in Eye Security’s mission to protect businesses across Europe.”
Founded by a team of Dutch Intelligence and Security Services experts, Eye Security claims that it “has experienced rapid growth, now boasting a diverse team of over 100 professionals across three countries.”
The company’s pioneering approach “makes enterprise-level 24/7 cyber protection, incident response, and cyber insurance available to mid-market businesses.”
Eye Security says that it is trusted “by hundreds of customers across sectors ranging from automotive, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services and information technology, among other industries.”
Job Kuijpers, CEO of Eye Security, said:
“Our journey began with a vision to tackle the escalating cyber risks that businesses face daily. We’re excited to extend our mission across Europe, giving our customers and strategic partners the reassurance that comes with knowing they’re partnering with a leader in cybersecurity and insurance.”
With this new round of funding, Eye Security plans “to deepen its presence in existing markets, such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, while also expanding across select European countries in 2024.”
In doing so, Eye Security is committed “to continuing its delivery of high-quality, people-led cybersecurity solutions that have earned the trust and appreciation of their current clients.”
Europe has a €50 billion cybersecurity market “that is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~10.8% through 2029 to reach a €85+ billion market opportunity.”
Despite the large and fast-growing market, much of this spending “goes towards protecting large enterprise companies, and leaves many of the remaining 24.4 million companies in the EU vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks. Protecting non-enterprise businesses has become increasingly important as they are the recipient of ~50% of all cybersecurity attacks and subsequently, 60% of those that are hacked go out of business within six months.”
Eye Security is also “positioned to capitalise on the upcoming tailwinds generated by the NIS2 directive issued by the European Union. EU member states must transpose NIS2 into their country’s national cybersecurity legislation by October 17th, 2024. The directive creates stringent cybersecurity breach reporting timelines for companies to their respective government authority.”
Failure to comply may result in fines in “up to €10M or ~2% of the total annual worldwide sales in the Company’s previous fiscal year.”
Regulatory agencies and consulting firms “recommend companies strengthen their cybersecurity posture by creating incident handling procedures, employee awareness training, etc.”
Job Kuijpers said:
“In today’s landscape, where cyber threats are ever-present, businesses frequently struggle to find reliable cyber insurance. Eye Security tackles this challenge directly. We’ve developed a scalable platform that not only strengthens a business’s defences against cyber threats but also quickly delivers insurance coverage. Our comprehensive approach means our customers are fully protected against cyber risk.”