Building a Cyber Security Company from Israel: Aki Eldar, CEO of Secure Islands (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: In 2014, all the money that you raised was from Credit Suisse Next?

Aki Eldar: Only from Credit Suisse Next, which was also a vote of trust coming from a customer.

Sramana Mitra: What’s the next milestone?

Aki Eldar: The next milestone is we’re expanding worldwide. We have an office in the US. Actually, we moved our headquarters to New York.

Sramana Mitra: Is your primary vertical financial services?

Aki Eldar: No, not necessarily. No doubt, this is an important vertical. I’m talking about Fortune 500 customers and even Fortune 50 customers that’s coming from industrial verticals, governmental, law firms, and energy.

Sramana Mitra: Are you working with system integrators?

Aki Eldar: Absolutely. Another milestone for us is we signed an OEM agreement with HP last year. One of HP’s portfolio security product is Secure Islands, which is another significant milestone and at the same time, a huge validation of our solution in the market.

Sramana Mitra: Has that deal started generating revenues already?

Aki Eldar: Yes, absolutely.

Sramana Mitra: Are you going to do more deals like that? Is OEM a part of your long-term strategy?

Aki Eldar: Yes. I personally believe working with either strategic channels like HP or with a small or medium is the most scalable model that exists today in the world.

Sramana Mitra: Yes.

Aki Eldar: At the same time, don’t lose touch with the market. In terms of selling model, I believe in what’s called direct touch and indirect sales. By that, we are keeping ourselves close to the customers and we are leveraging partnerships in order to reach more potential customers. At the same time, we have opened offices in UK, Germany, and Switzerland. We’re growing very fast. Everything is because of one reason – market demand.

Sramana Mitra: Obviously, you’ve hit upon a product that’s work and has demand. What is your current threshold, revenue-wise?

Aki Eldar: We will pass the eight-digit revenue this year.

Sramana Mitra: Terrific. You’ve raised another round of financing recently, right?

Aki Eldar: Last July. We are considering raising another round this year not because we need the money. We have money. The reason is because the market is exploding. There is a huge need and that means we need to accelerate.

Sramana Mitra: Last year’s round was a Series B?

Aki Eldar: This was actually a significant Series so you can call it Series A.

Sramana Mitra: That was from VCs?

Aki Eldar: From Credit Suisse.

Sramana Mitra: Also from Credit Suisse?

Aki Eldar: Last year, it was Credit Suisse.

Sramana Mitra: Right. That was your first round of institutional round of financing.

Aki Eldar: The seed is from institutional. The extended seed came from private investors.

Sramana Mitra: The Credit Suisse round is how much?

Aki Eldar: $10 million.

Sramana Mitra: Awesome. It sounds like you’re doing a great job. Congratulations.

This segment is part 7 in the series : Building a Cyber Security Company from Israel: Aki Eldar, CEO of Secure Islands
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