A US cybersecurity startup valued at $3.5bn is opening a new London hub as part of a $200m expansion across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, creating 200 jobs as demand for cyber defences surges.
Chainguard, backed by investors including Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed and General Catalyst, will establish its regional headquarters in Clerkenwell as it expands its engineering, sales and customer support teams.
The investment comes as Britain seeks to attract more overseas tech investment, while a fresh wave of cyber attacks on major retailers has exposed the growing cost of security breaches.
Chainguard, which specialises in securing open-source software, said AI was making it easier for hackers to exploit weaknesses in widely used applications.
“Pulling open source straight from public registries is like picking a USB stick up off the pavement and plugging it into your laptop”, said Ian Burley, the company’s EMEA vice president.
“Maybe you could survive that when finding a flaw took a human engineer months, but you can’t now that a model does it in an afternoon”.
The company said annual recurring revenue across EMEA had risen more than 400 per cent over the past year, while its regional customer base had grown eightfold.
Its new Clerkenwell office will serve as a base for nearly 70 existing UK employees, with the 200 new roles spread across the wider EMEA region.
London attracts fresh tech investment
The expansion follows a string of commitments from US tech giants to Britain’s growing AI and cybersecurity sectors.
Earlier this month, chipmaker Nvidia announced plans to invest in five British startups, alongside a $250m pledge of computing resources for UK AI safety research.
The investment also comes amid renewed concerns over cyber threats to British businesses.
London-listed Asos recently faced threats from hackers claiming to have accessed customer data, while H&M launched an investigation into a suspected breach.
Fashion retailers Hobbs, Whistles and Phase Eight were also affected by a cyber incident at their parent company’s London business.
The attacks follow last year’s breaches at Marks and Spencer, Co-op and Harrods, which exposed the financial cost of disruption to major retailers. Co-op previously said its attack cost £206m in revenue.
Chainguard said its expansion would help companies prevent attacks before hackers could exploit weaknesses in their systems.
The startup now serves more than 800 customers globally, including European businesses Siemens and Aleph Alpha.