When it comes to protecting the most valuable data for large companies, Boston cybersecurity firm Onapsis thinks it has the right stuff, and it's pointing to its recent $17 million funding round as the latest sign.
There is a wide range of niches in the cybersecurity sector, and for Onapsis, it decided to go for a big one. Namely companies that are on the Global 2000, Forbes' list of the world's largest companies. The firm said it has more than 180 of them as customers, including Siemens, OfficeMax and Nvidia, and what it seeks to protect are their massive enterprise applications running on SAP or Oracle.
"Traditional security products and methods are not designed to protect their SAP and Oracle enterprise applications from cyber attacks, leaving their crown jewels exposed."
The enterprise applications run by these companies range from business intelligence and enterprise resource planning to human capital and customer relationship management, but what makes them all important for Onapsis is that they contain what the firm said is a companies' most important data.
A report released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated last year that cybercrime and economic espionage cost the world economy $445 billion a year. While that encompasses more than just breaches in SAP and Oracle systems, Onapsis uses the figure to press the importance of securing these large applications.
“Leading CISOs of Global 2000 organizations are realizing that traditional security products and methods are not designed to protect their SAP and Oracle enterprise applications from cyber attacks, leaving their crown jewels exposed,” Mariano Nunez, CEO and co-founder of Onapsis, said. “Having been the first company to identify this emerging threat and deliver the advanced technology and research required to address it, we have always been and remain fully committed to enable SAP and Oracle customers to run their business’ securely."
Nunez said the latest round of funding, which brings the company's total to $30 million, will allow it to expand research and development, as well as its sales, marketing and customer service teams. More specifically, he said it will allow Onapsis to increase its workforce from 80 to around 110 by the end of the year.
"We decided to raise this additional capital because we’re experiencing a huge pull from the market," Nunez said.
Revenue for Onapsis increased 130 percent last year, according to the company, and it's still on track to grow again this year. The company didn't disclose actual revenue figures but said based on its own estimate that the market for SAP and Oracle enterprise application security is expected to reach about $3.3 billion by 2018, driven by widespread adoption of security solutions provided by firms like Onapsis.
“It’s critical that, as an industry, we get SAP and Oracle enterprise application security right. The economic and legal risk is too high for businesses to continue operating with their critical data exposed,” said J.R. Smith, a partner at Evolution Equity Partners, which led the latest funding round (Smith now sits on the company's board of directors). “Onapsis has established itself as the leading global experts in this field. Our commitment to enter one of the fastest growing market segments in security is attributed to Onapsis’ patented technology, a strong research and development team and the quality of execution from their leadership team."
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