What VCs are looking for in the next wave of cybersecurity startups

An investor outlines how GenAI is reshaping cybersecurity amid rising threat volume, enterprise security spend (from $188B to $215B by 2024), and a 3.4M-worker talent gap, arguing that winning startups will proactively educate customers, accelerate response to augment human analysts, and start with well-defined, auditable workflows to reduce false positives and automate remediation. Citing examples like Huntress’s scaling via automation and incumbents’ assistants (CrowdStrike’s Charlotte AI, Microsoft’s Security Copilot), the piece emphasizes addressing trust, data safety, and adoption hesitancy while leveraging incumbent data and workflows to scale.