This Temasek-backed startup builder tackles cyber security with army experience

Team8 assembled. Photo credit: Team8.

Cyber security has always been one of the more obscure topics of the tech industry, deemed the inscrutable domain of hacking gurus. Now it’s coming to the mainstream as cyber security means more to the layperson than just protecting a computer from viruses. Hacking stories are in the forefront, from compromised election campaigns to companies and governments losing tons of money and credibility because of security risks.

This is why Tel Aviv-based Team8 came together. The Israeli startup was founded in 2013 by Nadav Zafrir, Israel Grimberg, and Liran Grinberg to address the growing threat of cyber attacks. The team decided the way to do that was to nurture and build new startups that created innovative security products.

“The state of cyber security wasn’t what it is right now but it was obvious it was going to get worse,” Zafrir, Team8 CEO, tells Tech in Asia. “There were basic things missing: cyber security companies didn’t consider the attacker’s perspective and faced a lack of resources.” This made their solutions niche and shallow in terms of technology, he explains.

Startup building

To address these challenges, the company works like an incubator but only builds one company per year. The 12- to 18-month process involves working with each company founder to do market research, ideation, and validation. Then it makes a first investment of US$5 million in the new startup, which becomes part of Team8’s stable.

Zafrir feels this singular focus helps achieve better results. “It’s better to stay focused and do one a year. It’s very cumbersome to find the right people and technology,” he says. In fact, the lack of scalability is one weakness in Team8’s model, he muses.

Team8 wants Singapore to be one of its major hubs worldwide, along with one in New York.

Nevertheless, Team8 has received a disclosed total of US$56 million across three funding rounds, from investors including Microsoft, Cisco, Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, and more. Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and Japan’s Mitsui came in for the company’s series B round last year.

This paves the way for Team8’s companies to tackle cyber security challenges in Asia, where a 2015 report by telco Singtel found that businesses and governments are more likely to be hit by cyber attacks.

“[Our relationship with Temasek] is unique in terms of the positioning and the support we get,” explains Zafrir. “It’s putting us in front of some of the major decision makers in finance and the government.”

The Singapore government has stressed the need for cyber vigilance and Singtel itself set up a cyber security institute last year, to train local companies in this area. Team8 is working with Singtel on sharing research, insights, and expertise. It also helps build awareness and connections through events like Rethink Cyber, which was organized with the collaboration of SGX and CIO Academy.

“Singapore is interesting in the sense of the Smart Nation,” says Zafrir, highlighting the digital reinvention the city-state is going through. “It’s unique in the way it’s run – it’s small and condensed but extremely advanced technologically. So things like a smart electrical grid, smart transportation, and smart health, provide many opportunities for us to work together.”

Team8 wants Singapore to be one of its major hubs worldwide, along with one in New York. The two locations will complement the company’s headquarters in Tel Aviv.

They won’t all be building companies like the Tel Aviv base, but they will complement the mothership in other ways. New York, for example, will help lay down go-to-market strategies while Singapore will serve as a hub for both the Asian markets as well as research and development.

Strategic advantage