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Cyber Security Co. Votiro Targets Australian Base, ASX Listing

Israeli cyber security company Votiro Cybersec has become the third foreign cyber security firm to announce its plans to list on the ASX in as many weeks, as the rush of offshore tech companies to the local exchange continues.

As reported in The AFR:

Votiro has started a capital raising ahead of its listing later this year, targeting investors in Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Singapore for a $10.1 million capital injection.

Alternative investment fund Redfield Asset Management has already committed $2.93 million to the raise and has underwritten the remaining $7.17 million.

 Votiro chief executive Itay Glick said a local listing would help the company expand across the Asia Pacific region.
 Unlike most cyber security companies that protect businesses and individuals against known threats, Votiro created what is known as content disarm and reconstruction technology, which prevents unknown and “Zero-Day” exploits from penetrating a system.

Votiro, which was launched in 2010, analyses all email attachments and “cleanses” them, thereby seeking to prevent threats from entering a company’s email server.

The company’s founders, Mr Glick and Aviv Grafi, have both worked for the elite intelligence unit of the Israel Defence Forces and spent more than 10 years working in information security and telecommunications (in the case of Mr Grafi).

“We saw that it was very easy to attack organisations because all of them were using signature-based detection technologies which were and still are unable to detect undisclosed and Zero-Day threats,” Mr Glick said.

“The amount of discovered Zero-Day threats in 2015 was roughly 54 (according to security firm Symantec), meaning every week there was a new Zero-Day threat. Every week an attacker can choose an exploit, send it to you, and then they’re in. That’s how easy it is to use those Zero-Day threats.”

Votiro’s latest capital raising follows a $US4 million financing round in May last year, which was also led by Redfield.

The company is initially recruiting four people to join its R&D team in Australia, but it is still deciding between Melbourne and Sydney.

Mr Glick also expects the business to grow strongly here because of the recent introduction of the mandatory data breach reporting laws, and in Asia the Japanese government has begun offering favourable financial benefits to businesses that invest heavily in cyber security.

 “Mandatory data breach disclosure is definitely a catalyst for organisations to assess their cyber security solutions. And then there is the fear factor – no one wants to be the next one to be hacked,” he said.