The coronavirus pandemic is, without doubt, the greatest challenge the world has faced in a generation. But the wheels of the world keep turning, albeit slower than during normal times.
But where the world has faced challenges, the cybersecurity industry remains largely unscathed. In fact, some cybersecurity businesses are doing better than ever because cybersecurity has emerged as one of the few constants we all need — even during a pandemic. The vast majority of the global workforce is (or has been) working from home since the start of the lockdown, and the world had to quickly adjust. Tech companies pushed their technology and services to the cloud. Businesses had to shift from not just securing their office network but also preventing threats against their highly distributed employees working from their own homes. And, hackers are retooling their attacks to be coronavirus themed, making them far more likely to succeed. All of these things — and more — need security. Or, as one investor told us: “Many of these trends were already underway, but COVID-19 is an accelerant.” That’s helped cybersecurity firms weather the storm of this pandemic. We spoke to a dozen cybersecurity VCs to hear their thoughts on how COVID-19 has changed the investment landscape:- Ariel Tseitlin, Scale Venture Partners
- Shardul Shah, Index Ventures
- Theresia Gouw and Mark Kraynak, Acrew Capital
- Niloofar Razi Howe, Energy Impact Partners
- Matt Bigge, Crosslink Capital
- Sarah Guo, Greylock Partners
- Deepak Jeevankumar, Dell Technologies Capital
- Umesh Padval, Thomvest Ventures
- Saam Motamedi, Greylock Partners
- Alex Doll, Ten Eleven Ventures
- Dharmesh Thakker, Battery Ventures