Indian startup ecosystem can build global cybersecurity firms: Accel's Swaroop

The Indian startup ecosystem now has the potential to build global-scale cybersecurity companies, according to a venture capitalist.

“The cybersecurity space is ready for a breakthrough similar to what happened in the SaaS space,” said Prayank Swaroop, Partner - Accelin an interaction with YourStory at the sidelines of Cybersecurity Summit 2024 organised by the VC firm. 

Swaroop cited the example of SaaS startup Freshworkswhen Accel made its investment 13 years ago, to where it is today as a Nasdaq-listed company.

“Thirteen years ago when Accel invested in Freshworks, people said that no SaaS company would come out of India. Another Girish (Freshworks co-founder) needs to happen. So, I am also searching for that,” Swaroop remarked.

India's cybersecurity sector has seen substantial growth, reaching around $6 billion in 2023 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 30% from 2019 to 2023, according to a report by the Data Security Council of India.

Accel's summit was hosted to offer startups the opportunity to showcase their cybersecurity innovations and pitch to a distinguished panel of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) from major enterprises and tech unicorns, such as PhonePe, Groww, CRED, and Flipkart.

Some of the speakers at the event included Ankur Bhargava, head of product security at PhonePe; Himanshu Das, CISO at Cred; Ross Haleliuk, founder of Venture in Security; and Jossef Harush, head of supply chain security at Checkmarx, among others. 

According to Swaroop, many Indian investors often face challenges in the cybersecurity sector due to its complexity and jargon. 

"I think a lot of people get scared of cybersecurity because of a lot of words and jargon. It's a very sophisticated industry, and people are scared of jumping in. To be honest, I was scared when I jumped in, five years back. I didn't know anything. Some of the few initial investments I made, I didn't even know whether they were good, bad, or ugly. It's very hard to take that risk. I am a risk taker, so I took it," he added. 

He emphasised the need for investors to dedicate time to understanding the industry, noting, “I think the first thing most investors need to do is…they say, “we will spend time on this”. If they spend time, they will make good investments,” he explained. 

Accel has invested in six cybersecurity startups in India, which include Akto, Seezo, Securden, Sprinto, and Projectdiscovery.io, with one startup currently in stealth mode.

“The number of products which are in India in cybersecurity is less. You go look at SaaS, it would be like some 15,000-20,000. So I think the number has to increase. Smart people have to say, I want to do this. And once smart people build smart products, then the GTA problem can be solved... 50% of the problem is building the product. But 100% of the problem is somebody smart saying, I will build a company,” he said.