We are honored to meet many phenomenal cybersecurity founding teams throughout the year. In the fall, we hosted the DataTribe Challenge, inviting pre-seed founders to compete for recognition and potentially an investment by DataTribe. As a result of the Challenge, we have a surge in the already large volume of opportunities we review in the fall. This flow of cybersecurity opportunities provides clues as to what founders believe will be a big deal in the coming years. And given that these founders put their time, reputations, and money on the line, it is a pure data signal.

This report explores the top themes we saw this year and throughout the 2023 Challenge. We add to our perspective with forward-looking predictions from members of the DataTribe CISO Network and CEOs of our portfolio companies: all experts, all with different lenses on the vast domain that is cybersecurity.

Undoubtedly, 2023 was the year of AI in cybersecurity (and in everything else). Forty percent of the submissions to the DataTribe Challenge were AI-centered. That’s a massive increase and points toward a future in the next five years where AI-powered defenses will become the mainstream default.

Another interesting observation jumps out from the analysis. One theme that is on the minds of CISOs much more than cyber founders this year is the implications of new SEC rules. The new rules promote cyber risk to the level of other key investment risks that require disclosure. This is a significant development. As you’ll see below, the new SEC rules loom large for CISOs leading into 2024 — potentially changing how CISOs think about their roles. Of course, given the central role of CISOs in the cyber ecosystem, this is worth paying attention to as we look ahead to 2024.

 

Read the article to find out Chris Pierson’s contribution to the article and his prediction for 2024: https://datatribe.com/cyber-trends-predictions-report-2023/