{"id":38267,"date":"2023-10-20T14:55:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/melbourne-startup-responsight-closes-1-15-million-seed-round-to-aggressively-expand-around-the-world-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:55:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:55:18","slug":"melbourne-startup-responsight-closes-1-15-million-seed-round-to-aggressively-expand-around-the-world-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/melbourne-startup-responsight-closes-1-15-million-seed-round-to-aggressively-expand-around-the-world-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne startup ResponSight closes $1.15 million seed round to aggressively expand around the world – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

Melbourne-based cyber security startup ResponSight has closed a $1.15 million seed round to pour fuel on its aggressive international expansion plans.<\/p>\n

ResponSight\u2019s B2B technology uses behavioural analytics to identify hackers at the end point.<\/p>\n

The funding round was led by Carthona Capital and also included investment from Black Sheep Capital.<\/p>\n

From validation to growth<\/h3>\n

The startup previously raised $75,000 through BlueChilli\u2019s Disrupt@Scale program to build an MVP, and ResponSight CEO Jeff Paine says with the product successfully validated it\u2019s now all about growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a little bit of money for the MVP, and we piloted it and proved that the technology worked in a way we were happy enough to continue \u2013 it was even more successful than we expected,\u201d Paine tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we went out to raise a larger seed round in order to expand our development efforts and start looking at expanding through Oceania then into APAC and the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cash injection will be used to hire new team members and further build out the tech offering in order to facilitate these growth plans, Paine says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve come to the realisation that there\u2019s no reason for this business to be specifically targeting any one region,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to use the funding to grow our presence offshore, but to keep the business in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe optimist in me says that the market is massive. There\u2019s no reason why this couldn\u2019t be a significant global business.\u201d<\/p>\n

End point security<\/h3>\n

ResponSight\u2019s technology can be used by companies in the banking, finance and superannuation sectors to identify unusual user behaviour at the end point.<\/p>\n

Paine, who was previously a director of security at PwC, says this is an area commonly neglected in cyber security.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my 25 years of consulting the reality dawned on me that there was no real link being made between the end point \u2013 the machine the user was on \u2013 and the activity of the attacker,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few years ago I came up with the idea of effectively identifying the ways behaviours can be profiled on end points.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t tell who the end user is, but we can tell that user X is still user X or if they are behaving like someone else entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

With cyber security becoming an increasingly crucial facet of enterprise businesses, he says there\u2019s now a need to educate clients on ResponSight\u2019s offering and how it\u2019s different from competitors in the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cCyber security certainly is an increasing challenge for companies of all sizes,\u201d Paine says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe old school notion of corporate office networks being safe places for employees is really breaking up. The internet is now the corporate network and sensitive data is out there a lot of the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to take a view that the end point is an important place and we\u2019re doing something different and unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says that the software created by his company can be integrated into a business\u2019s wider cyber security tactics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the unique position of being a valuable complementary technology that allows banks that are already spending tens of millions of dollars on cyber security to unlock the power of that data and to give visibility of that roving laptop out in the wild,\u201d Paine says.<\/p>\n

Proving a need<\/h3>\n

The founder says that one of the keys to ResponSight\u2019s early success was seeking market validation as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the early stages validation is number one,\u201d Paine says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to understand what the market wants and if there\u2019s actually a solution required in the space you\u2019re targeting. If you haven\u2019t done validation then you may not even have a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to find a cornerstone investor that is offering more than just money.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re lucky to have found Carthona,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a very active investor and have a great network of contacts. They\u2019re someone who wants to be involved in the business \u2013 they\u2019re not just clipping the ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Melbourne-based cyber security startup ResponSight has closed a $1.15 million seed round to pour fuel on its aggressive international expansion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38267"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}