October 2024 Cybersecurity Market Update & Trends

Stay informed on October 2024's cybersecurity market trends, investments, major acquisitions, and key insights in this monthly wrap-up.

Welcome to the monthly wrap-up issue of Return on Security, where I’ll cover this month’s most relevant cybersecurity market and funding updates. I spend hours collecting, curating, and analyzing this information every week, so you don’t need to - here we go👇

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Table of Contents

⚠️ Important: All of the charts are interactive, so you can click around, filter, hover over, and even download the data to get the most out of it.

By the Numbers

October continued the now three-month trend of billion-dollar-plus funding in the cybersecurity industry. Funding for October 2024 reached just over $1 billion, as did funding in September and August.

In October 2024, there were 63 events spanning 44 unique product categories.

Here is a breakdown of funding events by product category:

Global Distribution

In October 2024, funding in the cybersecurity sector decreased. Twelve countries participated, down from 13 in September.

America again led funding this month, with 68% of the $1 billion in funding across 33 events. Israel, France, and Switzerland accounted for a combined 25% of funding for the month.

Mergers & Acquisitions

October 2024 was another billon-dollar-plus month for M&A transactions, with SecureWorks, ClearSale, and Trail Security leading the way with publicly available data. Merger and acquisition activity in October saw another slight uptick from September after a slower summer.

Despite the impressive figures, Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs) and Professional Services firms dominated cybersecurity M&A in October, making up 42% of the total transaction volume.

Top Content For the Month

Here are a few of my favorite Great Reads and other wonderful content from this past month that you might have missed!

  • The NHI Index - A centralized resource for understanding, managing, and securing Non-Human Identities (NHIs). This is the first resource I’ve seen that clearly explains what NHI is and how to secure the various parts.

  • The Insurance-Fueled AI Governance Wave - Cyber insurance has already influenced cybersecurity improvements through financial (dis)incentives, and a similar impact is expected in AI risk management.

  • Cybersecurity Models - A GitHub collection of models for organizing, prioritizing, and understanding cybersecurity and information risk management concepts.

  • The Myth of Security Market Consolidation - Oliver Rochford takes a look at why the cybersecurity market will never actually consolidate and the forces that are keeping it fragmented.

Return on Security Newsletter Issues

Here are the past weekly newsletters from last month in case you missed one (which you never would!):

Data Methodology and Sources

  • All of the data is captured point-in-time from publicly available sources.

  • All financial figures are converted to U.S. dollars (USD) when collected.

  • Company country locations are pulled from publicly available sources.

  • Companies are categorized using our own system at Return on Security, and we write all of the company descriptions.

  • Sometimes, the details about deals, like who led the round, how much money was raised, or the deal stage, might get updated after the issue is first published.

  • Let us know if you spot any errors, and we’ll fix them.

About Return on Security

Return on Security is all about breaking down the cybersecurity industry for you with expert analysis, hard facts, and real-life stories. The goal? To keep security pros, entrepreneurs, and investors ahead in a fast-moving field. Read more about the “Why” here.

Feel free to borrow any data, charts, or advice you find here. Just make sure to give a shoutout to Return on Security when you do.

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