Can you believe it, Strategic Cyber Ventures (SCV) just turned four!
In that time SCV has helped drive innovation at the early stage and has been awed by the teams and technology we've had a front-row seat to explore, invest in, and partner with.
But the times, they are "a-changin'", and the cybersecurity industry continues to rapidly grow and evolve. With the abundance of companies popping up to solve an array of ever-growing security problems, the industry has also become increasingly fragmented. Cybersecurity leaders are growing frustrated with the number of companies required for them to secure their rapidly expanding attack surfaces. The average Fortune 1000 CISO has 75 companies in their ecosystem. The unwanted complexity of cyber operations results in a perpetual tweaking of systems to hold the line against attackers.
So, to change that paradigm, we started off the new decade by creating SCVX.
SCVX is a cybersecurity-focused Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation (SPAC). While SPACs have been a financial vehicle used in other industries for over a decade, few people are familiar with the concept in the world of cybersecurity.
The SCVX SPAC is, at its simplest, a publicly-traded company that we IPO'd on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on January 24 of this year. It is a $230 million pool of capital that we raised via the public markets tied to our thesis (you can read more about in our S1 filing here).
SPACs facilitate a fast track to IPO for a company, or group of companies, of the appropriate size and scale. In addition to speed, SPACs provide immediate liquidity and structural flexibility and serve as a much needed alternative path to IPO for privately held companies. Of late, the vehicle has rapidly grown in popularity with other SPAC mergers of note, including Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, Nikola, Clarivate, and Draft Kings, each of whom a used SPAC to accelerate their path to IPO.
While they are a popular vehicle in other industries, SCVX is the first-ever SPAC to be laser-focused on cybersecurity, an industry poised for increased consolidation and in need of financial innovation beyond the standard startup playbook used around the series-C round of investment for many startups. A big reason for SPAC's popularity can be found in the control that companies retain when they merge with SPACs, as compared to many other options available to them.
SCVX is led by SCV's Hank Thomas and Wall Street veteran Mike Doniger. The pair assembled an all-star board of directors to assist them with their latest endeavor, which includes Senator Dan Coats (former Director of National Intelligence), Sounil Yu (former Chief Security Scientist at Bank of America), Vivian Schneck-Last (former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs), and Jeff Lunglhofer (Chief Information Security Officer at BNY Mellon).
SCVX aims to acquire one or more cybersecurity businesses to serve as a cornerstone cybersecurity company positioned for success at the next level. We're looking for a cornerstone company, or group of companies, capable and excited about the idea of integrating with other best in breed security technologies, forming a more multidimensional cyber capability that doesn't exist today.
If you are a CEO with an amazing platform, a great reputation, have reached critical mass in the industry, and are eager to be on the front wave of consolidation, then merging with the SCVX SPAC could be the right fit for you. The $230 million cash injection and flexibility of our SPAC will allow company leadership teams to take their platforms to the next level, and if desired, acquire other adjacent technologies as needed to accelerate their growth and innovation.
In our 4th year, SCV is excited to continue to innovate new cybersecurity and financial tools that advance cybersecurity through expert investment. SCVX is the next big step in the great leap forward that is needed in cybersecurity.
ABOUT STRATEGIC CYBER VENTURES
Cybersecurity is national security, and we're a D.C.-based venture capital firm on a mission to find cutting-edge startups that help us make an impact. We go beyond the check to help our founders win by leveraging our industry connections and experience as cybersecurity veterans to fuel their companies from inception to exit.
To learn more about our investment strategy and portfolio, explore www.scvgroup.com or connect with us on X @SCV_Cyber to be part of our mission in shaping the future of cybersecurity.