As part of an expansion of the Pre-Series A round, SoSafe has brought a new strong partner on board. In addition to Global Founders Capital, the international VC Acton Capital joins the shareholders as the second investor. With the new growth capital, SoSafe is also responding to the increased customer demand in the context of the Corona crisis and plans to expand its cybersecurity training platform with additional features in addition to internationalization – in particular to facilitate the sensitization of employees in the home office or to familiarize it with new remote software.
Founded in 2018, SoSafe offers its more than 200 corporate customers an uncomplicated and effective platform for training their employees in IT security topics. And that is more in demand than ever in the current corona crisis.
“The move to the home office, the growing prevalence of cloud software and the dramatically increased attack volume in the context of COVID19 make our solutions all the more relevant,” explains Dr. Niklas Hellemann, one of the three founders and managing directors. “Companies had to put their employees in a remote work mode in a quick process, which greatly increases the risk of attacks on employees. Unfortunately, the attackers immediately identified this increased vulnerability of companies to vulnerabilities to vulnerabilities. For example, the European Cybersecurity Agency (ENISA) reports a 600% increase in the volume of phishing emails. Security officers and CIOs are therefore acutely looking for a quick and effective solution to pick up their employees in terms of IT security and thus also to meet compliance obligations,” says Hellemann.
Even before the Corona crisis, the innovative company was already on a growth path. Companies such as Rossmann and Vattenfall, but also the IT security company Avira, are among SoSafe’s customers, and the customer base is growing rapidly. “This is also reflected in our business figures: within this year, we expect our sales to increase by four times compared to last year,”says Hellemann. The Cologne-based company is also currently looking for massive new employees for the current 55-strong team – despite Corona. The basis of the rapid growth is also The technological innovation claim of SoSafe. “For example, we are the only provider on the market that can continuously update and tailor-made learning content in our customers’ systems. These features are the results of our absolute customer focus – both on the admins and the end users. This is a rethink in the area of IT security, where usability and user centering have so far been an exception rather than a rule,” explains Niklas Hellemann.
SoSafe now wants to further expand this product advantage and also drive forward internationalization. The Acton Capital team, with its experience in scale-ups and B2B SaaS, is the perfect partner for this. “More than 70% of companies in Germany want to increase their investments in IT security in the future. Training and awareness will take a big part here. We can also see this in the fact that market estimates have been revised upwards,” explains Christoph Braun, Managing Partner at Acton Capital. “We are very pleased to support a team working on a highly relevant innovation topic: protecting organisations from the massive number of human-based cyberattacks is not only important in times of crisis, but will also contribute to ensuring added value in the long term.”
About SoSafe
The SoSafe awareness platform sensitizes and trains employees in dealing with the topic of IT security. Phishing simulations and interactive e-learnings teach employees effectively and sustainably what to pay particular attention to e.g. when using e-mails, passwords, or social media. The employer receives differentiated reporting and can finally make awareness building measurable – completely GDPR-compliant of course.