The pandemic has accelerated the digital shift in many industries and healthcare has been a primary beneficiary. While the rise in telehealth comes top of mind, there have been a number of innovative IoT technologies that have been deployed during the pandemic to keep patients safer and care continuously like remote tracking of insulin levels and pacemakers or non-surgical robotics used for contactless disinfection. This has led to an increase in the number of connected devices being deployed in the field and ultimately these devices need to be secure. Cylera is a comprehensive cybersecurity and intelligent platform focused on IoT in the healthcare industry. The company focuses on asset management, risk analysis, and threat detection so that healthcare organizations can be safeguarded against any vulnerabilities as the adoption of devices increases.
AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Timur Ozekcin to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the state of the healthcare IoT market, and the company’s recent funding, which brings the total funding raised to $17M.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
This is Series A for $10M led by Concord Health Partners and Maverick Ventures with participation from our existing seed investors that include Contour Venture Partners, Two Sigma Ventures, Dreamit Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Red Bear Angels, and Samsung NEXT.
Tell us about the product or service that Cylera offers.
The Cylera IoT cybersecurity platform is subscribed software that can be deployed onto specified hardware platforms or run as virtualized machines. The components are twofold: a centralized management console that can reside in IT or in clinical departments, and multiple device sensors that can be easily deployed at the switch and throughout the organization as traffic dictates to passively mirror and analyze the healthcare provider’s network and device behaviors.
From these components, we deliver differentiated asset management, risk analysis, smart segmentation, threat defense, operational analytics, and governance and compliance support. Many vendors in this space have similar functional claims and use similar wording, but our product features and functions are differentiated during on-site proof of concept evaluations.
What inspired the start of Cylera?
The genesis came from the prior experience of our founding team in the medical device industry and the cybersecurity concerns discovered along that journey. Pairing that with some consultancy projects involving the FDA and DHS, we recognized the healthcare IoT cybersecurity challenges were daunting for healthcare providers. After a short period, we pivoted our direct experiences into Cylera, for the benefit of healthcare providers and addressing one of the most complex IoT environments in the marketplace.
What market does Cylera target and how big is it?
Our first market sector focus has been healthcare. For this we go deep and wide. The capabilities we have developed many other market verticals have begun to show keen interest.
For healthcare – we track the healthcare IoT growth. Also, in terms of forecast, Allied Market Research has predicted the worldwide Internet of Things (IoT) healthcare market is expected to be worth $136.8 billion (£97 billion) by 2021. Cybersecurity is a business essential that has become especially noticeable during COVID, remote workers, and general acceleration of hacker and attacker activity.
What’s your business model?
In terms of the product, our business model is a SaaS subscription around our Cylera Platform. We also leverage partners to help deliver our solution and who offer MSSP and other services to enhance our customers’ security posture. Deployments can be physical or virtual, cloud, on-prem or hybrid.
In terms of go-to-market, we sell through channels and have some healthcare specialists/system integrators (Sis) and value-added resellers (VARs) who are excellent at what they do, and others who have more expanded reach into other market sectors (often including healthcare), and who are bringing us into those markets. More will be forthcoming on this in-market news.
How has COVID-19 impacted your business?
COVID has led healthcare providers to focus more on patient safety and the efficiency of their teams supporting patient care in person and remotely. Because our initial market focus has been healthcare IoT, Cylera has really helped healthcare providers with both areas of focus and we are happy with our sales and revenue success in 2020. We are planning for business expansion in every area and believe we can really ramp up in 2021 for healthy year-over-year performance.
What was the funding process like?
It’s been very client-driven. We knew the value our product provided to our clients and needed to ensure the growth of the company supported our client’s needs. So, undergoing the fundraising process was exciting both from the market dynamics and our client-driven needs. From a market perspective, all three market vectors of IoT, cybersecurity, and healthcare are hot – it’s been a good business intersection for our startup. Second, we’ve had great partners during the seed funding, and they, plus new investors have all continued to participate in the Series A.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
The biggest challenge that we faced while raising our initial round of capital was educating investors about the risks to patient safety and clinical operations caused by cyber attacks on connected devices. Many were surprised by the scope of the problem, and that it had not been addressed with generalized IT tools.
The biggest challenge that we faced while raising our initial round of capital was educating investors about the risks to patient safety and clinical operations caused by cyber attacks on connected devices. Many were surprised by the scope of the problem, and that it had not been addressed with generalized IT tools.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
The main factors are the amazing team we have at Cylera combined with our proprietary and patented technology that protects hospitals and enterprises across the globe.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
With this infusion of new funding, Cylera will expand the company’s footprint into new global markets through strategic channel partners and extend the technology into new critical verticals. Cylera additionally plans to use the funds to double the headcount across research and development, channel support, customer success, sales and marketing over the next 6 months.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
COVID-19 has changed the landscape of almost every company in New York. So emphasize the increased urgency and focus on your unique capabilities and value to target customers.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Over the past year, there has been a further acceleration of the digitalization and adoption of IoT devices across hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, biotech, life sciences, and manufacturing, which can decrease operational risk and increase efficiencies. However, with this expanded footprint and reliance on connected devices, organizations are experiencing attacks targeted at connected medical devices, operational technology, and IoT devices to extort money, steal intellectual property, impact patient care and disrupt operations. With our latest round of funding, Cylera is fueling the next phase of innovation to safeguard organizations against cyberattacks on connected devices.
Over the past year, there has been a further acceleration of the digitalization and adoption of IoT devices across hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, biotech, life sciences, and manufacturing, which can decrease operational risk and increase efficiencies. However, with this expanded footprint and reliance on connected devices, organizations are experiencing attacks targeted at connected medical devices, operational technology, and IoT devices to extort money, steal intellectual property, impact patient care and disrupt operations.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC
I would say my favorite outdoor dining restaurant is Grand Banks because it is hard to beat the view you have from eating on a boat.
