Dublin cybersecurity firm Waratek has raised fresh funds to 'aggressively' markets its tech

The company is active in the US and Europe and has eyes on the Asian and Australian markets.

By Jonathan Keane Reporter, Fora

DUBLIN CYBERSECURITY COMPANY Waratek has raised €2.2 million from previous backers to bolsters it sales and marketing operations.

Founded in 2003, Waratek develops tools for protecting web applications from cyber-attacks and other malicious activity. It counts large players like IBM and Microsoft Azure among its partners.

The company is planning to invest the funds in expanding the reach of its products.

Chief executive John Adams told Fora that Waratek was starting to “aggressively bring our technology to the marketplace” and required a bigger sales and marketing team.

“This is already showing results as we just ended our most successful three months of sales in the company’s history,” he said.

“We also have talks underway with several potential partners which will assist in our market penetration strategy,” Adams said.

The company declined to disclose any financial figures. The firm’s latest Irish accounts, for 2015, show it was sitting on accumulated losses of more than €18 million at the time.

It said that it expects to break even in 2019 with profitability in 2020.

New markets

The latest investment comes from existing investors including Georgia-based firm Wildermuth Endowment Fund and a number of Australian family trusts. Wildermuth previously invested €5 million in the company, according to company filings.

Waratek’s products are still developed in Dublin but its biggest sales market is the US, where it has sales office in Atlanta, New York and Washington DC. It also has a presence in London.

It employs 31 staff, 25 of which are in the Dublin office.

The company’s executive vice president and marketing chief, James Lee, said the bulk of the firm’s sales force was in the US.

“It’s the biggest cyber market in the world. Europe is next but we have customers in the US, Europe, we have customers in Latin America,” he said.

Lee added that Waratek is looking for potential customers in the Asian and Australian markets for further expansion.

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