As more business communication and commerce becomes digital, it becomes increasingly important to have trusted and secure email communication. Hackers have recognized that email, which is the cornerstone of digital identity, can be exploited in increasingly sophisticated impersonation and phishing attacks to cause billions of dollars of harm and moreover, damage the trust and reputation that businesses have worked so hard to build. I am thrilled to be joining Agari’s board of directors in connection with Goldman Sachs’ investment in Agari and support the company’s mission to protect businesses and consumers from email attacks. Goldman Sachs Growth Equity has a long history of investing in innovative cybersecurity companies, and Agari shares many of the characteristics of our most successful investments: an experienced management team, differentiated technology, relentless focus on customers, and a large market opportunity with favorable tailwinds.
Email is the initial communication channel for over 90% of corporate breaches. Yet there has been less VC investment overall in email security than in other security categories. Perhaps most people simply assumed that the incumbent anti-virus, anti-spam, and anti-malware solutions would be a sufficient defense, or were not aware of next-gen software alternatives. But while cybersecurity technology focused elsewhere, cyber criminals have continued innovating new email attack strategies leveraging identity deception and social engineering to evade the traditional defenses organizations have in place. There is no shortage of executives being spoofed by emails to their own employees, including attempted wire fraud, W-2 scams, credential theft, and the sharing of confidential information.
Agari has unique, proprietary technology that uses AI on data from trillions of emails to model trusted communications behavior and stop the kinds of dangerous attacks that other security offerings struggle to detect. We believe there is a vast market opportunity for a next-gen email security solution that is focused on stopping these types of advanced attacks, which can impact small and large business alike across virtually every industry. We expect the impressive momentum that Agari has experienced to date to only continue as more enterprises move to cloud email, as the phishing attacks continue to get more sophisticated, and as DMARC adoption rises with the recent industry security group recommendations and the federal government mandate. The mix of market tailwinds, a management team with incredibly deep domain expertise, and market-leading technology will make for an exciting road ahead Agari. We are looking forward to the journey.
Email is the initial communication channel for over 90% of corporate breaches. Yet there has been less VC investment overall in email security than in other security categories. Perhaps most people simply assumed that the incumbent anti-virus, anti-spam, and anti-malware solutions would be a sufficient defense, or were not aware of next-gen software alternatives. But while cybersecurity technology focused elsewhere, cyber criminals have continued innovating new email attack strategies leveraging identity deception and social engineering to evade the traditional defenses organizations have in place. There is no shortage of executives being spoofed by emails to their own employees, including attempted wire fraud, W-2 scams, credential theft, and the sharing of confidential information.
Agari has unique, proprietary technology that uses AI on data from trillions of emails to model trusted communications behavior and stop the kinds of dangerous attacks that other security offerings struggle to detect. We believe there is a vast market opportunity for a next-gen email security solution that is focused on stopping these types of advanced attacks, which can impact small and large business alike across virtually every industry. We expect the impressive momentum that Agari has experienced to date to only continue as more enterprises move to cloud email, as the phishing attacks continue to get more sophisticated, and as DMARC adoption rises with the recent industry security group recommendations and the federal government mandate. The mix of market tailwinds, a management team with incredibly deep domain expertise, and market-leading technology will make for an exciting road ahead Agari. We are looking forward to the journey.