French cyber consultancy Hackuity sets up UK operation

Risk-based vulnerability management company Hackuity has announced it is to open a UK office as it looks to extend its global client base among blue-chip and enterprise organisations.

The company, headquartered in Lyon in south-central France, also has offices in the Netherlands and Singapore, wants to triple its customer base in 2023, and believes that extending its global network across the Channel will be key in addressing the threats faced by organisations in sectors such as financial services, government and healthcare.

Founders Patrick Ragaru and Pierre Polette – both formerly of Orange Cyberdefense – secured €12m (£10.2m) of venture capital funding earlier in 2022 to support its go-to-market and investment strategies.

The firm bills itself as an enabler of cyber security teams, saying its vulnerability management platform helps them gather, prioritise and remediate weaknesses before they can be exploited. Its technology helps map cyber asset inventories, regardless of their nature or location, to offer customers “powerful capabilities to reduce their threat exposure”.

“Hackuity’s entry into the UK offers significant opportunities to diversify our customer base,” said Sylvain Cortes, vice-president of strategy at Hackuity.

“This is an important move towards global expansion, with the UK being a key step in our business plans for EMEA. We have witnessed a growing need for vulnerability management in the region, as the number of cyber security threats continues to grow significantly.

“With the UK being a leader in establishing cyber policy best practices, and one of the world’s leading technological hubs, it is the perfect place to demonstrate our value – bringing calm to the storm.”

Its newly hired vice-president of EMEA and the Americas, Matthew Fox, added: “The UK is key to our ambitious growth plans, and our launch here is a key strategic move towards further global expansion.

“This investment underpins our dedication to growth and building out our UK customer base, in addition to creating strong relationships with channel partners.”

Besides expanding its customer base, the firm said it was looking to aggressively hire to fill key positions in the UK, as well as turning its focus on the burgeoning managed security service provider market through a channel-first sales model. It believes such firms have “significant opportunities” to strengthen their offering, capitalising on growing demand for outsourced, remote security operations capabilities.