• Talsec, the Czech cyber security startup with a Ukrainian founder, raised EUR 1M of Seed funding
• The startup offers cyber security solution for app developers to embed in their apps
• The new investment will be used for product development and scaling

This April, Talsec – the Czech cyber security provider for app developers – closed a Seed round of investment. The amount is CZK 25M / EUR ~1M, and the investors are London-based Dig Ventures and the well-known Czech VC fund DEPO Ventures (invested in Certifier, among others).

First Steps in Disrupting Mobile-First Cyber Security

Sergiy Yakymchuk and his team started Talsec in 2021 as a spin-off from the Brno-based tech company Monet+. The co-founder can boast about a degree in software development and an MBA in strategic IT management (a recent Pursue The Pull’s podcast highlights his background in detail).

According to Mr Yakymchuk, such products exist mainly for banks and cost 5-digit-prices. His 15 years of experience in security and telecom products (such as Gemalto and Thales) convinced him that he’s the right person to assemble a team that will disrupt this state of events and make such a product affordable for a broad group of fintech at a yearly subscription price of four digits.

With users increasingly favoring mobile applications over computers and services becoming mobile-first, apps become the primary target for cyber attacks. However, company executives are often reluctant to allocate budgets to security, viewing such costs as nothing more than a necessary evil. Talsec’s model changes this perspective by offering specialized tools for app developers that protect against hackers, conceal sensitive information, and detect malicious software.

‘There are a number of competitors driving this kind of product within security corporations. We innovate the business model to run it as a community-driven and product-led freemium model,’ Mr Yakymchuk explains.

How It Works

Initially developed for the high security standards of the financial sector, Talsec now offers ‘app-safety-as-a-service.’ This presents a whole suite of developer tools (SDK), application and API protection, penetration testing, monitoring services, and a user security set. The solution suits mobile applications from across various development platforms, including Android, iOS, and cross-platform frameworks such as React, Cordova, and Google’s Flutter platform.

‘Talsec uses AI in different use-cases. We use it to detect malwares or harmful apps activity by numerous different parameters analyzed on the device. It also helps us to detect the false positives,’ Mr Yakymchuk adds.

The Steps Covered and Further Ambition

The startup’s milestones go as follows:

• The release freeRASP by Talsec in 2021
• The release of the AppiCrypt product in 2022
• The prestigious Ernst & Young ESO Cyber Space Innovation award in 2023
• Listing in the Top 50 by 4YFN at the Mobile World Congress in 2024
• The new funding round is another significant milestone for the startup

DEPO Ventures’ partner Michal Ciffra is convinced that the technology Talsec employs effectively addresses the challenge of fraud prevention in mobile applications.

‘Unlike its competitors, Talsec boasts a highly scalable distribution model, enhancing its chances of success. Its initial product is developing rapidly and showing remarkable results. Since we began following Talsec last July, their growth has doubled,’ Mr Ciffra shares.

For Dig Ventures, this is the third investment in the Czech Republic, following Deepnote and Rossum.

‘The Czech Republic has given rise to multiple community-centric, category-defining software companies, from Jetbrains to Avast, and now Talsec too. The strength of the fundamental computer science training in local universities, as well as the prevalence of several cyber security companies, means that companies such as Talsec emerge with unfair advantages and have a chance to redefine entire software categories,’ Dig Ventures’ partner Rytis Vitkauskas comments.

Mr Yakymchuk tells ITKeyMedia that the newly raised funds will be used for technological and organizational improvements to scale the success and reach a wide audience of app issuers who value security and privacy. We are welcome to follow the details on Talsec’s GitHub community.