Gamified platform Hoxhunt hunts down $40 million to enable employees to respond to cyberattacks

Cybercrime represents an ever-worsening pandemic costing global businesses trillions of dollars per year. Cybersecurity spending is projected to grow from $262.4 billion in 2022 to $458.9 billion in 2025, with tightening regulatory and insurance pressure driving higher expenditure on awareness. Cybercrime costs are projected to swell to $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.

Email is the main vector of transmission as 90% of all breaches, from ransomware to business email compromises, are initiated by a phishing email. Turning the tide on phishing attacks, Finnish cybersecurity training platform Hoxhunt protects organisations and their employees from the risk of cyberattacks. Adapting to each employee’s skill level, the gamified platform empowers individuals with the tools and confidence to recognise and respond to attacks.

The Helsinki startup has now brought in $40 million in its Series B round. Led by New York-based Level Equity Management, along with participation from existing investor Icebreaker.vc., the new funding will drive its growth in new markets, particularly North America. The startup has raised $43 million in total funding to date.

Making good email cybersecurity a habit, the platform rewards employees for reporting simulated and real email threats, using machine learning to create millions of individualised phishing simulations.

Hoxhunt CEO Mika Aalto said: “Email is the biggest threat to enterprise security. That’s why human nature is the most important cybersecurity challenge to solve, instead of building incrementally better mousetraps at the technical perimeter.”

Sarah Sommer, co-founder and partner at Level Equity Management said: “There is tremendous growth potential in the cybersecurity awareness category. In just two years, the number of cybersecurity unicorn companies has jumped from 6 to over 50, but too few are security awareness vendors. Next-level security training represents a huge opportunity in terms of ROI and, more importantly, doing good for the world.”