Deepwatch CEO Charlie Thomas
Deepwatch develops a cloud-based SecOps platform. The funding will fuel deepwatch's R&D efforts -- particularly around a machine learning security analytics platform, along with go-to-market expansion, the MSSP says.
The company's platform was generally known as a vSOC (virtual Security Operations Center) ahead of the spin-out from GuidePoint. Deepwatch has had a 3,631% growth rate over the past three years, CEO Charlie Thomas said in a prepared statement, though he did not disclose actual revenue or profit figures.
In a prepared statement about the funding, deepwatch Founder and CTO Justin Morehouse said:
“When starting vSOC, our goal was to disrupt the managed security services industry. We succeeded through our relentless focus on customers, as well as providing a flexible, transparent, and carefully curated platform. Our vision is to redefine the industry, realizing the promises of data analytics and machine learning for our customers."
What makes deepwatch Different?
Deepwatch claims to differentiate from traditional MSSPs in six ways. We've paraphrased some of the claimed differentiators, and added some notes where indicated).
- Benchmarking: The company's maturity model benchmarking approach indexes customers’ cybersecurity program maturity vs. industry peers, and provides detailed maturity roadmaps. The benchmarking is mapped to common frameworks such as NIST CSF and MITRE ATT&CK. (Side note: ConnectWise recently acquired an MSSP that also promotes NIST-oriented cybersecurity frameworks and benchmarks.)
- Cloud SecOps Platform: Deepwatch continuously evaluates, integrates, and tunes technologies into its platform to ensure the ability to support customers’ changing requirements. Deepwatch manages the associated technologies.
- Data-Centric Deployment Models: Deepwatch has hosting options in over 30 worldwide locations. Data is stored in-country, meeting data sovereignty requirements, including GDPR and BDSG, while providing centralized views and reporting for global audiences. deepwatch holds PCI and SOC 2 certifications, as well as maintains a certified GDPR Data Privacy Officer (DPO) on staff.
- Named Delivery Squads: Deepwatch customers gain named resources across all roles and shifts to ensure they maintain context. Understanding the minute details of customers’ evolving environments enables deepwatch personnel to identify potential issues that a less personal approach would miss, the company asserts.
- Real-Time Collaboration: Customers have multiple communications channels integrated into the deepwatch Cloud SecOps Platform.
- Portability & Access: Deepwatch believes that customers’ data is theirs, and they should be able to access it and move it to another provider at any time.
MSSPs and Venture Capital Funding
A growing list of MSSP- and MDR-centric companies have raised venture capital or seed funding in recent years. The list includes:
- February 2019: Anitian, a Top 100 MSSPO, raised $11 million.
- October 2018: Arctic Wolf Networks, a SOC-as-a-Service provider focused on MSSPs, raised $45 million in Series C funding.
- October 2018: Perch Security raised $9 million from ConnectWise and Fishtech Group.
- September 2018: Fidelis Cybersecurity raised $25 million for MDR services.
- August 2018: SIEM Provider Exabeam raised $50 million and increasingly pursues MSSPs as customers.
- June 2018: Jask Autonomous, a SOC platform provider to MSSPs, raised $25 million in Series B funding.
- June 2018: CyberInt, an Israeli managed detection and response (MDR) services provider, raised $18 million.
- May 2018: Penetration Testing as a Service provider Cobalt raised $25 million.
- June 2017: MKACyber, a Top 100 MSSP, raised $4.1 million.
Despite the hot cybersecurity market and growing demand for managed security services, certain market challenges certainly remain. Chief among them: Customer churn, according to the latest Secureworks earnings report. Plus, many MSPs and MSSPs are struggling to set and maintain pricing models.
We'll be watching for clues about deepwatch's own business performance in the days and weeks ahead.
PS: deepwatch prefers lower case as its company spelling, though we've made it upper case at the start of sentences.
