Press Release – Merlin VC

Merlin Ventures Chosen as 2024 SC Media Awards Finalist for Investor of the Year

August 29, 2024/in Press Release/by Website Administrator

VC Dedicated to Investing in and Scaling Innovative Cybersecurity Startups Recognized for Unique Community-Oriented Approach

TYSONS CORNER, VA and TEL AVIV, Israel – August 30, 2024 – Merlin Ventures, the venture capital affiliate of The Merlin Group, today announced the company has been named a finalist in the 2024 SC Media Awards for Investor of the Year. Merlin Ventures invests exclusively in enterprise cybersecurity software companies, with a particular focus on identifying and investing in Israeli startups.

The SC Awards are one of the most prestigious and competitive honors in the cybersecurity industry. Now in its 27th year, the SC Awards program has expanded award categories to include recognition for the investors that fuel the cybersecurity space and help bring innovative technologies to life.

“It is an honor to be named a finalist in the Investor of the Year category,” said Seth Spergel, Managing Partner, Merlin Ventures. “We have an incredibly talented team both in the U.S. and in Israel working closely with both founders and a huge community of CISOs, so that we can provide far more than just dollars to our portfolio companies – we arm them with direct feedback from security buyers to guide their growth strategy and product roadmap.”

Merlin Ventures’ community of over 300 security executives opens up access to the cybersecurity market, connecting CISOs and innovative startups together for bi-directional information exchange. This approach enables Merlin to invest ahead of the curve while also ensuring startups are able to gain a more complete understanding of the market needs.

On top of that community, Merlin has built a world-class platform for its portfolio, providing infrastructure for market readiness, cybersecurity engineering expertise, and go-to-market muscle. It helps startups penetrate and pursue some of the largest markets in the world, including the U.S. government.

This recognition comes on the heels of Merlin Ventures appointing Andrew Smeaton as the firm’s CISO-in-Residence, further strengthening Merlin Ventures’ unique approach to building community and helping portfolio companies better align with buyer preferences.

Learn more about Merlin Ventures and the companies in its portfolio.

About Merlin Ventures

Merlin Ventures is the venture capital affiliate of The Merlin Group, a network of companies with more than 25 years of success bringing technologies to the U.S. Government market. Merlin Ventures rapidly scales visionary companies and introduces disruptive solutions designed to help enterprises address today’s most critical cybersecurity challenges. Its unique business model combines robust infrastructure and capital, technical advisory and engineering advisory, market readiness acceleration, and deep-rooted government and industry relationships that enable its portfolio to rapidly grow and scale. Learn more at merlin.vc.

Media Contact:

Emily Ashley

merlin@luminapr.com

Merlin Ventures Appoints Andrew Smeaton as CISO-in-Residence

June 17, 2024/in Press Release/by Website Administrator

Cybersecurity industry veteran will help expand the firm’s community of security executives, and provide expert counsel for portfolio companies

TYSONS CORNER, VA and TEL AVIV, Israel — June 17, 2024 — Merlin Ventures, the venture capital affiliate of The Merlin Group, today announced it has appointed cybersecurity executive Andrew Smeaton as the firm’s CISO-in-Residence. In this role, Smeaton will provide strategic and technical counsel to Merlin Ventures’ portfolio companies and strengthen alignment between the needs of today’s CISOs with Merlin’s portfolio companies and prospects. As Smeaton shares Merlin Ventures’ focus on fostering community, he will also help expand the firm’s existing community of more than 300 security executives who regularly meet with and provide valuable feedback to startups in Merlin’s network.

“In order for venture firms to stand out in today’s crowded landscape, they must have a deep
understanding of the industries they cater to and the unique needs of buyers and other
stakeholders,” said Seth Spergel, Managing Partner of Merlin Ventures. “With Andy on board as our CISO-in-Residence, bringing his impressive industry experience and an ability to speak with other CISOs as a peer, we have even deeper insights into the wants and needs of today’s
security organizations. This helps not only us, but the security market as a whole, better
ensuring our startups are aligned with practitioners’ most pressing needs.”

The addition of a CISO-in-Residence is a strategic move poised to enhance Merlin’s portfolio
companies’ alignment with buyer preferences, assuring that products and services meet market demand. Additionally, having Smeaton on board offers invaluable guidance to existing portfolio companies, aiding them in bolstering their cybersecurity measures and mitigating risks.

“When I met Seth and the Merlin Ventures team, I was immediately impressed with their
creativity, skill and expertise when it comes to elevating cybersecurity startups,” said Smeaton.
“The company has already built an incredible community of innovators, buyers, and investors,
which is critical to success in today’s competitive cyber market. Their method of operation
closely aligns with my own community-based philosophy and how I approach all personal and
professional relationships. I’m looking forwarding to working with Merlin Ventures to continue to iterate and grow its community and apply a more data-driven methodology to extracting feedback and insights from CISOs.”

Smeaton has more than 25 years of security leadership experience in various industries
including government, healthcare and finance. He has held the role of CISO since 2006,
including at DataRobot, Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB) and MIB Group, a data solution for
insurance firms. Andrew holds the CISSP, CISA, CGEIT, CCISO, CISM, CRISC credentials,
has deep expertise in regulatory compliance and privacy, and has served on executive boards
and advised government agencies on information security.

For more information, visit merlin.vc

About Merlin Ventures

Merlin Ventures is the venture capital affiliate of The Merlin Group, a network of companies with more than 25 years of success bringing technologies to the U.S. Government market. Merlin Ventures rapidly scales visionary companies and introduces disruptive solutions designed to help enterprises address today's most critical cybersecurity challenges. Its unique business model combines robust infrastructure and capital, technical advisory and engineering advisory, market readiness acceleration, and deep-rooted government and industry relationships that enable its portfolio to rapidly grow and scale. Learn more at merlin.vc.

NightDragon, Merlin Partner to Deliver Emerging Cybersecurity Innovation to U.S. Public Sector

February 16, 2022/in Press Release/by Website Administrator

Merlin will work with NightDragon portfolio companies to advance their go-to-market capabilities and deliver solutions to support critical U.S. public sector missions

SAN FRANCISCO (February 16, 2022) – NightDragon today announced a new partnership with Merlin, a public sector platform of cybersecurity investment, innovation, technical expertise and go-to-market acceleration, to enhance the ability of its venture portfolio of innovative companies to go to market and solve the biggest challenges of U.S. public sector customers around cybersecurity, safety, security and privacy (CSSP).

Sepio Systems Expands Partnership with Merlin Ventures to Deploy HAC-1 Solution to U.S. Federal and Global Commercial Customers

June 23, 2021/in Press Release/by Website Administrator

Partnership Produces Early Success with $1 Million Customer Wins

ROCKVILLE, Md. (PRNewswire) — Sepio Systems, the leader in zero trust Hardware Access Control (HAC), announced today that the company will be expanding its partnership with Merlin Ventures, a strategic investor in visionary emerging technologies, to deploy the company’s Hardware Access Control (HAC-1) solution to US federal agencies.

Merlin Ventures Announces Partnership with Cyolo to Deliver Zero Trust Cybersecurity Solutions to the U.S. Market

June 15, 2021/in Press Release Cyolo/by Website Administrator

Partnership and strategic investment continues strong history of helping emerging cybersecurity companies enter the U.S. corporate and federal markets

TYSONS, Va. & TEL AVIV, Israel — June 15, 2021 — Merlin Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Merlin Cyber, a premier cybersecurity solutions provider with deep expertise in the U.S. market, today announced a strategic partnership and investment that was closed at the beginning of the year with Cyolo, developer of a true Zero Trust Network Architecture (ZTNA) solution. Together, Merlin and Cyolo will enable U.S. businesses and federal agencies to better strengthen their security posture and secure digital assets in their own distributed clouds.

Merlin Ventures Unveils Public Sector Growth Program for Cybersecurity Startups

March 16, 2021/in Press Release All Companies/by Website Administrator

Turnkey program enables visionary cybersecurity startups to leverage Merlin’s capital, FedRAMP certification accelerator, and go-to-market infrastructure to rapidly expand into the U.S. Public Sector

TYSONS CORNER, Va. (BUSINESS WIRE) – Merlin Ventures, the investment arm of Merlin Cyber, today announced the formation of a Public Sector growth program for cybersecurity software-as-a-service (SaaS) startups. The program leverages Merlin Ventures capital, engineering lab, FedRAMP certification acceleration process, and Public Sector relationships to help startups tap into a $200 billion Public Sector IT solutions market.

Cyber Observer’s Latest Release Provides New Visibility Into Cybersecurity Risk Posture

January 19, 2021/in Press Release/by Website Administrator

Premier Continuous Controls Monitoring platform empowers enterprises with continuous, unified visibility of security tool effectiveness on-premises and in-cloud

TEL AVIV, Israel & TYSONS CORNER, Va. –(BUSINESS WIRE)– Cyber Observer, the premier Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM) solution, today announced a major enhancement to its platform that enables CISOs and other security and risk management executives to obtain new, continuous, unified visibility into the effectiveness of cybersecurity tools that are implemented throughout their enterprise. By continuously retrieving and analyzing Critical Security Controls (CSCs) from applications on-premises and in-cloud, Cyber Observer’s CCM platform simplifies compliance, reduces mean time to detection and response, and advances risk posture management.