Over the years of being a VC investor, I came to the conclusion that there are two types of tech companies that I like investing in; those that disrupt an existing market with groundbreaking ideas or models, Airbnb, Uber and Tesla are great examples of such companies that have come into huge existing markets and by taking advantage of advanced technology completely changed them. The second kind of companies are those that target a very small market or one that still does not exist, betting on its future exponential growth and their ability to dominate this market. Such a company is our portfolio company, JFrog. JFrog was founded before the term DevOps was known and the market didn’t exist. Even at the time of our investment, very few were familiar with the DevOps concept. Our decision was based on both the belief that this market is going to explode and in confidence that JFrog will be a leader in this market. Happily, both bets proved themselves right and four years later, today it is clearly one of the hottest investment areas.
So not only do I need to believe that the small lake into which the company sells is going to become a huge ocean and that the company will have the first mover advantage, but as a late stage investor, I also need to believe that the investment time is right and the market is at its inflection point.
Fast forward to 2019, our latest investment in IntSights, the premier Threat Intelligence company, is based on the same principles.
Today more than ever, enterprises need to protect themselves from cyber attacks. New threats are constantly emerging, damaging assets and reputation. But cyber defense must extend beyond the perimeter, understand new hacker tactics, techniques & procedures and take early action to discover, analyze, and mitigate threats. Threat Intelligence can help organizations gain valuable knowledge about these threats. While still in its early days, the Threat Intelligence market is driven by adoption by enterprises protecting their digital assets coupled with regulation and compliance requirements. The market today for automated tools in this sector that can scale is still relatively small and very fragmented.
Founded by veterans of an elite intelligence unit in the Israel Defense Forces, equipped with a deep understanding of how threat actors think, collaborate and act, IntSights has demonstrated amazing YoY growth, with an offering that monitors thousands of sources across the clear, deep, and dark web to identify threats that directly target a company’s unique digital footprint. Threats are specific, intelligence is relevant, and most important, action is automated.
For us, this is the perfect combination of a market we believe will significantly grow and an outstanding team with the vision, experience and execution capabilities needed to lead this market. Timing is everything, and we believe now is the right time to join and back this exciting company.
Great move!