On EQT Ventures’ investment in Baffin Bay Networks, the full-stack, cloud-first cyber security platform
Two weeks ago, Stockholm-based cyber security company Baffin Bay Networks announced its $6.4m Series A, led by EQT Ventures. This marks EQT Ventures’ first investment in the cyber security space. Below you’ll find some of our thinking that led to the investment.
Long gone are the innocent days when cyber attacks were conducted by mischievous teens with a 2400 baud modem. Carding, phreaking and remote controlling your colleague’s CD tray with Netbus (sooo much fun) have been replaced by some of the most advanced and ambitious software projects created by man, financed by nation states and independent groups, with the goal to influence elections, steal company secrets, or simple extortion.
Cyber attacks are a growing problem. In 2017, attacks grew 91%, driven mainly by the adoption of IoT. Lately, attacks have also become more sophisticated. DDoS attacks, in the past seen as crude and un-targeted, are increasingly launched as smoke screens for higher level attacks. And on top of this, the continued shift from on-premise hosting to the cloud, as well as the adoption of new platforms adds extra complexity and makes many of the incumbent, hardware-centric solutions irrelevant.
Working for some of the leading cyber security companies in Europe and the US, Joakim and his co-founders had observed this worrying trend firsthand, and decided it was time to do something about it. It was on the regular flights between Europe and US, over the strait between Greenland and Baffin Island, that the idea behind Baffin Bay Networks was born.
After two years in stealth mode, Baffin Bay Networks announced its RiverView product at the end of 2017. Just half a year later, it was being used by some of the leading media houses, fintech companies and government agencies in the Nordics.
Baffin Bay Networks offers one of the first cloud-first, full stack threat protection suites, from DDoS and threat intelligence, to Web Application, threat and fraud protection. And since the product is designed with the cloud in mind, it also enables security teams to share information in a more a convenient way, creating one of those neat network effects we VCs always are looking for.
Imagine if humans had one, shared, immune system and if any one of us gets sick, the immune systems of everyone else on the planet gets updated automagically. This is how Baffin Bay Networks work.
Cyber security is growing in importance, but today’s implementations are still stuck in the on-premise paradigm, and we can’t defend ourselves against the growing threat if we’re fighting this alone. We can only successfully defend ourselves if we all work together and apply a networked cloud-first model to cyber security.
This is the vision for Baffin Bay Networks, and why we are so excited to support Joakim, Stefan, Mikael, James, Johan, Tomas, Mats, Stina, Pär, Fredrik, Eric, Paul, Kim, and Jean-Paul on their mission.
Visit Baffin Bay Networks here or check out EQT Ventures’ portfolio page here
