Funding has increased by 940% for UK cybersecurity start-ups since the beginning of lockdown, with £496m being raised in the first half of 2020.
This almost outstrips the 2019 total of £521m financing the sector’s start-ups received.
The findings come from a new report by global recruiter Robert Walters and data provider VacancySoft. Their research claims that business spending on cybersecurity will double to £136bn before the end of this year.
Darius Goodarzi, principal of IT Risk at Robert Walters commented: “For years the UK has been building its reputation as a beacon of innovation and investment in cybersecurity. This year in particular cybersecurity start-ups have risen to become business heroes - from tools that alert users to security vulnerabilities, to those that spot fraudulent activity — these news firms and tools have taken an important role in protecting our ‘new world.”
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According to the government’s Cyber Security Sectoral Analysis 2020, there are 1,221 firms active within the UK providing cybersecurity products and services.
This has increased by 44% in the last two years – indicating that a new cybersecurity business is registered every week within the UK.
Of this, 90% of the sector consists of SMEs (small-to-medium enterprises) - with an associated estimated turnover of £2bn (24% of the sector’s revenues).
Ajay Hayre, senior tech consultant at Robert Walters commented: “Historically IT security has represented only 5% of a company’s IT budget but due to remote working and transition to online or cloud-based solutions, cybersecurity has been thrust to the centre of business continuity plans – having proved its worth in enabling business objectives during lockdown.”
Demand for Consultancies
48% of UK companies have stated that they do not have adequate cybersecurity to enable long term remote working, and a further 70% across Europe admitted they do not have a sufficient cybersecurity team in general.
Therefore, the Robert Walters team said the race is on to hire talent in this area – with job vacancies growing by 6% in the UK for the first half of this year.
However, with a talent shortage across the continent of 140,000, companies are being left with no choice but to turn to cybersecurity consultancies.
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These consultancies are one of the fastest growing start-ups in the UK - now at 1,000 companies with the average number of employees being just 10.
Adam Casey is managing director at one of these consultancies, i3Secure. He said: “The pace at which companies are having to undergo digital transformation means security projects will be rife, add to that a period of ‘rationalisation’ – where firms will need to check whether what they fitted ‘overnight’ is totally secure and fit for purpose.
“As a result, one of the main drives for cyber security over the next 12 months will be to amend and create sustainable and secure systems.
“With this, a trend we expect to manifest is an increase in ‘Cyber Audits’ performed by specialist external providers, as a way of helping companies test their resilience and identify vulnerabilities.
“Companies are increasingly out-sourcing projects to these new & exciting firms promising efficient project delivery, in place of hiring a CISO and in-house team at a significant cost to the company.”
