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Why Index Ventures’ Shardul Shah thinks the old cybersecurity model is breaking | Equity Podcast

As concern over AI safety and rogue agents continue to make headlines, it’s no surprise that cybersecurity stocks are rising, or that investors are pouring massive amounts of capital into startups trying to build the next generation of security for an AI-native world. We’re even seeing companies like Instinct and Simile bring in nine-figure checks…

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As concern over AI safety and rogue agents continue to make headlines, it’s no surprise that cybersecurity stocks are rising, or that investors are pouring massive amounts of capital into startups trying to build the next generation of security for an AI-native world. We’re even seeing companies like Instinct and Simile bring in nine-figure checks and valuations that wouldn’t have made sense a few years ago.

With a front row seat to it all is Shardul Shah, a partner at Index Ventures who’s spent nearly two decades investing in cybersecurity and enterprise software — including six consecutive rounds in cloud security startup Wiz, which Google acquired for $32 billion earlier this year in one of its largest acquisitions ever.

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Shah joins Rebecca Bellan to break down why he thinks periodic, human-in-the-loop security can’t keep up anymore, and why Index continues investing in AI-native security companies at stages that once required much more proof.

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

02:02 Why AI is creating a new cybersecurity category

05:16 The cyber insurance layer most companies overlook

09:15 Why Index is betting on AI-native security platforms

12:40 Will Wiz become a talent factory for new startups?

14:46 What actually makes a founder worth betting on

16:11 The hard part of knowing when to double down

18:53 Why Shardul says he’s not a visionary investor

21:16 How AI could reshape the entire security stack

24:18 What makes an AI security startup defensible

25:14 Why he doesn’t want to find “the next Wiz”

26:48 Why investors are writing huge checks so early

29:39 What happens to AI valuations if the frontier gets paced

31:01 Outro

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