Japanese cybersecurity software specialist Trend Micro has launched a $100 million corporate venture fund targeting start-ups in growing markets, such as the Internet of Things.
The venture will give start-ups access to Trend Micro’s corporate alliances in the cybersecurity space, as well as its channel of more than 28,000 partners. It will also provide them with much sought after financial backing.
Trend Micro is hoping to work with start-ups, with a focus predominantly on IoT, to “uncover insights into emerging ecosystem opportunities, disruptive business models, market gaps and skillset shortages,” the company announced. In short, Trend Micro wants “to dive into new areas without disrupting core business resources.”
An evolving ecosystem
Eva Chen, founder and chief executive officer for Trend Micro, noted, “Trend Micro’s vision has always been to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. The explosion of devices is transforming how the world works, thinks and acts.
“It is clear that the ecosystem is still evolving and there is work to do to ensure organizations and individuals can operate and live safely in this new reality.”
Any learnings gleaned from the investment will influence Trend Micro’s global cybersecurity product planning, the company confirmed.
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Right time to invest
“We have a 29-year history of successfully anticipating technology trends to secure all types of environments,” said Chen. “The first mega wave we caught was the growth of the PC marketplace; we committed early on to endpoint protection and remain a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms today.
“The second mega wave was all about the cloud; we made a bet early on to securing the cloud and so far we have secured over two billion workload hours on Amazon Web Services (AWS) alone. Now, we believe the next wave has arrived with IoT; our fund will help us harness this opportunity.”
Following 72 quarters of consecutive profitability, Trend Micro believes it is now well positioned to invest funds into emerging markets. The company said that the formation of its venture arm “allows additional freedom to dive into new areas without disrupting core business resources”.
Further details on the scope and breakdown of the investment have yet to be announced.
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