A Lake Mary-based cybersecurity startup’s Series A venture capital round will enable the company to more than double in size.
BlackCloak Inc.’s $11 million venture capital raise, detailed in a July 30 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, will fuel new cybersecurity, engineering and marketing hires, CEO Chris Pierson told Orlando Inno. Meanwhile, the company is leaning into its Central Florida identity with hopes of further growing the red-hot cybersecurity sector in the region.
“We’re planting the flag and putting Orlando on the map.”
New jobs
The deal brings BlackCloak’s fundraising total since its founding in 2017 to more than $13 million. The company distinguishes itself from other cybersecurity firms by offering its services to corporate executives and high-profile clients.
The investment will allow BlackCloak to ramp up its team quickly, with a focus on its marketing and sales efforts. The company will hire salespeople, engineers and cybersecurity analysts, with plans to more than double in size over the next year, Pierson said. It’s unknown how many people the firm will hire. BlackCloak does not divulge how many people it employs, Pierson said, adding that there are roughly 16 open positions at the firm.
However, these new jobs likely will bring high wages. In metro Orlando, these positions pay average annual wages between $95,380 and $100,700, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is more than the region’s average annual wage of $48,530.
Venture capital firm TDF Ventures, co-headquartered in Maryland and San Francisco, led the round, with Atlanta-based TechOperators and DataTribe, based in Maryland and Wyoming, also participating.
There is significant need for BlackCloak’s approach, as board members and executives are targets of many cyber attacks, TDF Ventures Managing Partner Jim Pastoriza said in a prepared statement. “They realize that if they can penetrate this inner circle through their personal accounts and devices, they can hit the jackpot in terms of a corporate breach, intellectual property or other sensitive data."
Indeed, a 2017 study by London-based research firm Campden Wealth found 28% of ultra-high-net-worth families, family offices and family businesses reported they had been the victim of a cyber attack in the past.
Cyber industry 'right down the street'
Central Florida is home to a number of growing cybersecurity companies in addition to BlackCloak. They include Maitland-based ThreatLocker Inc., Orlando-based Fortress Information Security LLC and Orlando-based Glesec LLC.
While BlackCloak recruits and hires nationally, the pool of cybersecurity talent coming out of local schools like the University of Central Florida make metro Orlando a great place to headquarter, Pierson said. That’s valuable since top-notch cybersecurity talent can be tough to hire. In fact, high demand for cybersecurity talent has created an industry unemployment rate of zero, according to the 2019/2020 Cybersecurity Jobs Report released by Los Angeles-based IT firm Herjavec Group Inc.
ThreatLocker CEO Danny Jenkins previously told Orlando Inno it is “really difficult” to find and hire the right talent in the cybersecurity industry. Still, the business found success in recruiting from local universities, namely UCF.
While it was common in years past for the region’s cybersecurity talent to leave Central Florida and take jobs elsewhere, the growth of the local industry gives them reason to stay here, Pierson said. “With Covid, there’s a little bit of head-scratching on why to take a trek to the West Coast. There is great stuff happening here. If you’re here, the market is right down the street.”
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