- Focusing especially on SMBs, CyberLabs Group will bet on its dfndr enterprise, solution to protect against business data leaks;
- The merger is formed by CyberLabs, known for its KeyApp, tool that allows access to establishments by facial recognition or QR code;
- And also by PSafe, digital security company responsible for spotting the data leak of more than 223 million individuals in Brazil;
- Co-founder of the Brazilian group Movile, Marcelo Sales will take over the position as CEO while PSafe’s CEO Marco DeMello will take over as president of the merged company;
- CyberLabs Group expects to reach BRL 100 million (US$ 18.6 million) in revenue for 2021
Brazilian AI startup CyberLabs and the digital security company PSafe, responsible for spotting the data leak, in January, of more than 223 million individuals in Brazil, have announced on Saturday they are merging operations.
Called CyberLabs Group, the newly merged company, aims to create a global player in the deep tech market through AI-based predictive protection tools to support small-medium businesses against cybercriminals. CyberLabs Group currently operates in Brazil and the U.S. and virtually in all Latin America. Still, after the merger, the company intends to expand its presence in the Latin American SaaS Cybersecurity Company market starting next year.
“We are going to offer the state of the art in artificial intelligence to help Brazilian companies protect themselves on the internet,” says the CEO of the group, Marcelo Sales. “We are living in a digital pandemic and because small and medium-sized companies do not have enough structures or resources, each remote employee becomes an additional point of vulnerability,” he adds.
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Backed by Redpoint eventures, which, in August last year, led a seed round of US$ 5 million (BRL 28 million) in CyberLabs, the merger expects to reach BRL 100 million in revenue during 2021 – about US$ 18.6 million.
Founded by Sales, who is also the co-founder of iFood’s Movile, CyberLabs is known for its AI applications such as the KeyApp, tool that allows access to establishments by facial recognition or QR code, without physical contact. Based in Rio de Janeiro, the deep tech company has a computer vision solution to control social distancing in street cameras in the city.
Global cybersecurity firm PSafe, which was responsible for detecting both mega data leaks in Brazil, one in January and another one earlier this week, has over six million active users on its flagship app focused on corporate data leaks, dfndr enterprise. The solution aims at protecting businesses and is initially focused on Brazil. The company also has a solution called dfndr security, focused on B2C, that is growing especially in the US. PSafe is led by CEO Marco DeMello, former Microsoft team leader.
“Brazil is among the ten largest economies in the world, but it occupies the second to last in the global threat detection ranking, ahead of Turkey only. Data leaks in Brazil take an average of 46 days to be identified, which is an unacceptable period,” adds Marco DeMello, who holds the position of president at the CyberLabs Group. “There is a lot to be done for cybersecurity in the country, and with the merger of the CyberLabs Group, we have enough cutting-edge technologies to evolve ten years of knowledge in one year,” he pledges.
According to both execs, the Brazilian scenario is a fit for the merged company’s plans also due to the recent approval of the General Law for the Protection of Personal Data. Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD, its acronym in Portuguese) came into force in September last year, with rules on data collection, storage, treatment, and sharing, as well as penalties for those public and private institutions that do not comply with the law.
Recent mega leaks have also sparked the demand for dfndr solutions, Marco and Marcelo told LABS. “CyberLabs has already detected an increase in demand, of around 30% by companies, and that demand continues to grow.”
With CyberLabs Group, a team that will count on 150 engineers and researchers focused on AI, the execs intend to place the PSafe brand as number one in proactive predictive protection for both the Brazilian and American markets. One of its main bets will be to spread the word about its dfndr enterprise, solution to protect against business data leaks.
The merger also kicks off the creation of dfndr lab, a cybersecurity research laboratory in Latin America.
