Lucideus Inc., which operates an eponymous startup focussed on providing cybersecurity solutions for companies, has raised $7 million (approximately Rs 50.18 crore at current exchange rates) in funding.
The investment round was led by California-based MS&AD Ventures, the venture capital arm of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, a Japanese insurance company. Another US-based VC firm Western Technology Investment also participated in the funding process, the company said in a statement.
New Delhi- and Stanford- based Lucideus will use the funds to ramp up its operations in the US and double its engineering and sales teams, the statement said. It will also use the capital to scale up its Security Assessment Framework for Enterprises (SAFE), its platform that helps businesses assess and mitigate cybersecurity risks in real-time, it added.
Saket Modi, co-founder and chief executive officer at Lucideus, said the fresh funding was in line with its strategy to reach out to a wider audience. “Last year, we had a triple-digit revenue growth with a net promoter score (NPS) of 86. We intend to continue growing at this pace next year,” Modi said.
Lucideus is currently operational in 16 countries, with over 200 clients including SoftBank, KFC, Quikr, SpiceJet, and IBM, according to its website.
News of the funding comes after Lucideus raised $5 million (around Rs 36 crore) in October last year from JC2 Ventures, the venture firm of former Cisco executive chairman John T Chambers. At the time, Modi said the funds would be used to expand the company’s presence to new markets such as the US and existing markets like India.
Prior to that, in May 2017, the startup raised an undisclosed amount from a group of angel investors including Amit Ranjan, chief architect of Digilocker, an initiative launched by the Indian government; Anurag Goel, CEO of Cactus Communication; and Govind Rajan, the former CEO of Freecharge.
Deals in the cybersecurity segment
The cybersecurity has seen no shortage of investor and strategic interest, especially as startups have begun employing frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to be able to adapt to consumer and enterprise needs.
Last month, SafeHouse Technologies Ltd, a startup focussed on mobile-first cybersecurity, raised $2.2 million (approximately Rs 15.55 crore) in a seed funding round led by Barclays UK Ventures, the venture capital business unit of British multinational financial services group Barclays.
In June, software engineering and services provider Cyient invested in Israeli rail cybersecurity firm Cylus Ltd, which was in line with its strategy of developing mobility solutions.
Prior to that, in March, the National Stock Exchange subsidiary NSEIT Ltd acquired security company Aujas Networks Pvt. Ltd to bolster its IT security offerings. In February, information security risk management solutions provider CloudSEK Info Security Pvt. Ltd said it raised Rs 3.5 crore (around $490,000) in a funding round from IDFC Parampura Early Stage Opportunities Fund.