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CYBER THOUGHTS NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 2022
The public equity markets are showing signs of volatility. Some prognosticators are whispering, or even shouting, about the risks of a real correction, so how does that affect private valuations? The good news for investors is the venture market seems to be leveling off if not cooling a bit, which is good since most VCs agree that prices right now are frothy. That said, it historically takes longer for the private valuations to follow the public ones, and our disciplined approach remains intact.
Since our last newsletter, we held our annual LP meeting and discussed our views and investment ideas with our investors. We also sent out an explanation about the Log4J issue that ravaged companies of all sizes in December. We hope it made you the best-informed person at your holiday cocktail parties.
At Lytical, we have successfully done our first close on our second fund, larger than the whole first fund, and we have significant momentum coming into the new year. We see very interesting trends happening in cybersecurity right now and a slew of new companies being formed to exploit the changes.
Below are a few of the articles that caught our attention this month. Moreover, we’ve inserted one or two sentences in italics, summarizing each article’s importance. We hope you enjoy and appreciate the material.
WHAT WE'RE READING
Here's a curated list of things we found interesting.
Record Number Of VC-Backed Cyber Companies Acquired in 2021, Even As Venture Funding Hits New Highs
The market continues to be hot. 2021 saw record investment in cybersecurity, but also record exits. Even in a year where few cybersecurity startups had problems raising money, a record number of venture-backed companies also saw exits through acquisition in 2021. According to Crunchbase numbers, 129 venture-backed companies were acquired by private equity or strategics this year-shattering last year's record 79 deals.
15 Graphs You Need to See to Understand AI in 2021
It probably isn't surprising that we love data. Here are some great charts to help you understand what happened with AI last year. If that comes to pass, lunar denizens will need to stay intouch with Earth. While direct radio communication with Earth was used during the Apollo missions, it doesn't work in every possible situation. For example, the moon's far side, as well as large portions of its poles, have no direct line of sight to Earth.
22 NYC Enterprise Seed Startups to Watch in 2022
One of our newest portfolio companies, ThreatKey, made the list. As enterprise Seed investors here in NYC, we keep a pulse on all of the new founders and startups entering the ecosystem. To highlight the breadth of our local early-stage enterprise ecosystem, we started an annual tradition of amplifying top NYC Enterprise Seed Startups to Watch for the coming year (see our past NYC enterprise Seed startups to watch lists from 2021, 2020, and 2019).
TRANSACTIONS
Deals that caught our eye.
Google acquiring cybersecurity startup Siemplify for $500 million
Exclusive Google is acquiring Israeli cybersecurity startup Siemplify, Calcalist has learned. The price of the acquisition is estimated to be $500 million and will mark the first time the tech giant is buying an Israeli company active in the cybersecurity sector. Siemplify employs 200 people in Israel, the U.S., and London, who will join Google following the acquisition.
PODCASTS
Our partner, Steve Berg, is back with another season of his excellent podcasts on how to cultivate intangible qualities.
Selflessness - Richard Lui
Richard Lui is a journalist and news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News. He was formerly at CNN Worldwide. Lui is also a columnist, contributing to publications including USA Today, Politico, The Seattle Times, Detroit Free Press, and San Francisco Chronicle.
ABOUT LYTICAL
Lytical Ventures is a New York City-based venture firm investing in Enterprise Intelligence, comprising cybersecurity, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. Lytical’s professionals have decades of experience in direct investing generally and in Corporate Intelligence specifically.