Cybersecurity Startup Kapalya Is Making Remote Work Companies Safer

By Elijah Labby | Wednesday, 23 December 2020 | Tech, Startup

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced thousands of businesses across the world to transition to work from home arrangements, and, as a result, the safety of information critical to businesses can be put in jeopardy.

Cybersecurity startup Kapalya wants to change that, and they’ve just closed a round of seed funding to help them do it.

The funding was led by Irvine, California-based holding company Caltrop Holdings LLC. Sudesh Kumar, founder and CEO of Kapalya, says the partnership will help his startup reach new markets in the Middle East, as well as Europe and Africa.

"We are extremely pleased to partner with Caltrop. Through their existing sales channels, we will be able to access new markets and bring our solutions to the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. This investment shows Caltrop's commitment and endorsement of Kapalya's innovative encryption solutions," he said.

Kapalya’s Inception

A common Silicon Valley practice is for startups to be housed within larger companies and programs that help their ideas get off the ground. Such is the case with Kapalya, who graduated from ICE71 Accelerate, a three-month beginning cybersecurity startup program, in June 2020.

It’s not uncommon for companies to struggle when they enter the funding phase, but Kapalya’s recent seed funding indicates that it is on its way to future success.

The company’s product offering — allowing users to generate their own encryption keys — impressed Caltrop’s CEO David Saber, who said he was confident the technology would help companies seeking to make their information more secure.

"We are very excited to make this investment in Kapalya,” he said. “There is definitely a need for futuristic multi-platform next-generation solutions in the market as cybercriminals continue to launch more sophisticated and targeted attacks to infiltrate employee and corporate data. I am absolutely convinced that Kapalya's solution easily fills that need.”

The Global Cybersecurity Market

Cybersecurity has become an absolute necessity for everyone from the highest levels of government down to the individual. And while the threat of identity theft or any number of other types of fraud and abuse of private information is always looming, the cybersecurity market is growing to accommodate this need exactly.

The global cybersecurity market was valued at $135 million in 2017, according to Data Bridge Market Research, and is anticipated to be worth about $246 million in 2025 — an impressive compound annual growth rate of 16.2 percent.

The Global Need for Cybersecurity Solutions

Experts attribute this growth to the heightened amount of cybercrime and fraud taking place online. According to The Hill, over 50 billion devices globally are connected to the internet. This has the potential to create immense strides in global technology and interconnectedness, but also creates an unprecedentedly large selection of targets for hackers.

With such a significant problem on the hands of individuals concerned with their online security, what is the best approach to solving it?

The Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a government project, was created in 2019 to “develop a consensus on a strategic approach to defending the United States in cyberspace against cyberattacks of significant consequences.” And a report from the CSC found that the best way to combat these cyber-attacks is for private businesses and governmental agencies to work together.

Admiral James Stavridis, who is a professor of cybersecurity at Deloitte University and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, agrees. In an op-ed in The Hill, Stavridis argued that the CSC’s findings were, indeed, the best way to solve the cybersecurity issue.

“Cybersecurity can only be achieved by a massive effort — like the power of an iceberg. But the government effort is only the tiny part of the iceberg that sticks up above the surface of the sea. The enormous mass of the iceberg is the private sector,” he wrote.

Put simply, our increasingly digital lives, while offering incredible benefits, are also susceptible to attacks. And government agencies can only do so much.

When it comes to solving this problem, the opportunities for private cybersecurity companies are near endless. Companies in this space are providing a crucial service, and Kapalya is positioned to be an important part of that mission.

About the Author

Elijah Labby

Elijah Labby is a graduate of the National Journalism Center. He has previously written for Broadband Breakfast, a technology and internet policy website.