Partnership Announcements| July 2023
Netcraft: Automating Cybercrime Detection and Defense at Scale
We’re excited to announce our $100+ million investment in Netcraft, the global leader in cybercrime detection, disruption, and takedowns. The company delivers cybercrime countermeasures via its subscription platform to enterprises, banks, and governments. Bootstrapped and founder-led for nearly 30 years, Netcraft has grown organically via word-of-mouth to become a trusted cybersecurity partner to hundreds of global blue-chip customers, including some of the largest corporations, financial services firms, and governments worldwide.
We initially came across Netcraft a decade ago, building a long-standing relationship with its founder. Netcraft had all the hallmarks of a classic Spectrum business – bootstrapped, profitable, a highly retentive customer base built through capital efficient growth strategies, and truly differentiated IP/technology.
Netcraft is solving a growing global cybercrime problem using a sophisticated approach. As we’ve seen through our other risk-oriented investments over the last decade, cybercrime is becoming a more pervasive and persistent problem, given rapidly lowering barriers of entry. Early on, we had tremendous admiration for the company’s unique product platform, and despite being subscale and too early to bring on a partner like us at the time, our conviction for the business and opportunity grew over many years. During those 10 years, we had countless calls and trips to the UK to discuss various growth strategies and opportunities, giving each other a glimpse of what a future partnership could be. This patient approach is common across our portfolio, with many of our relationships starting with founders years before a transaction is relevant.
It was clear Netcraft had scaled into an impressive business, and we are thrilled about our partnership. As part of our investment, we agreed to bring on a tenured executive who could help lead the company through its next phase of growth. We’ve facilitated similar transitions many times before, so we were delighted Ryan Woodley, who has decades of experience leading growth-oriented technology companies, joined as the CEO. We’ve known Ryan for many years and are excited to finally be working together.
In the decade we spent getting to know Netcraft, we identified several key factors that underpin our excitement for this business and its growth opportunities.
I. Solves a growing problem for organizations worldwide
Cybercrime is a global problem that caused over $8 trillion of damage last year, more than 2.5x greater than in 2020. This problem is only getting worse. With new types of cybercrime emerging regularly, it’s estimated that damage from cyberattacks will grow to over $17.5 trillion by 2025. Netcraft solves this problem by providing countermeasures against 100+ forms of cybercrime, helping customers avoid costly data breaches, preserve brand integrity, and safeguard customers from digital threats.
II. Proven product-market fit
Netcraft had no dedicated sales team but has grown organically to become an essential component of cybercrime defense strategy for many large global corporations and governments. Its platform provides a faster and much more effective alternative to the traditionally manual, time- and resource-intensive process of countering cybercrime. Powered by proprietary data and analytics, Netcraft quickly identifies attacks that its customers might not otherwise be able to detect. It then disrupts those attacks in real time, often remediating threats before they have caused any damage due to its unparalleled speed. And it delivers its solution at scale – Netcraft is responsible for taking down a third of phishing attacks globally.
III. Advanced technology built by a distinctive team
Built by mission-driven engineers who are deeply committed to helping their customers, Netcraft is a global authority on cybercrime. Throughout its history, the company placed an emphasis on hiring computer scientists, with nearly every employee spending meaningful time on R&D and understanding the emerging cyberthreat landscape. As a result, the team can respond quickly to new types of attacks and develop solutions that keep their customers one step ahead of cybercriminals.
We are thrilled to be working alongside this exceptional team and are looking forward to the journey ahead with Netcraft.
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