BPI invests in cybersecurity start-up Expel

The number of cyber attacks has increased significantly during the pandemic as it led to more people working from home. However, IT teams do not only see more attacks hitting companies, but these attacks are also more sophisticated. This fact requires a good set-up on the potential targets’ side. The US company Expel offers a transparent service in the field of cybersecurity. And as of now, BurdaPrincipal Investments (BPI) has joined the group of investors backing the company: The growth capital arm of Hubert Burda Media participated in the Series E financing round together with Paladin Capital, via a co-investment. The round collected a total of USD 140 million at a company valuation of USD 1 billion.

Exciting growth market

Expel is a managed detection and response (MDR) provider and offers an outsourced security service for its B2B clients. The MDR market shows enormous growth potential.

“With the number of hacker attacks increasing, IT security and therefore cybersecurity providers have become more and more important for companies which need to be able to defend themselves. For us, this is exactly the right timing to invest in a company like Expel, which is already excellently positioned in its segment. We are looking forward to supporting the team with their further, ambitious growth goals.”

Christian Teichmann, CEO BurdaPrincipal Investments

Portfolio company with ambitious goals

Expel was founded by Dave Merkel, Yanek Korff and Justin Bajko in Virginia in 2016. With the closing of the current financing round, Expel pursues big goals: the company wants to use the new capital to further invest in product research and development, to accelerate international expansion and to fuel amplified sales. Within their segment of IT security, they occupy the position of the market leader. CapitalG, the independent growth fund of Google’s parent company Alphabet, co-led the round with Paladin Capital Group and participation from Cisco Investments, March Capital, Greycroft, Index Ventures, and Scale Venture Partners.