Perseus start-up seeks to shield German SMEs from cyber threats
Perseus in heroic fintech quest
Berlin-based cybersecurity start-up Perseus is seeking to become a legend for the country’s SME market with a “one-stop solution”.
According to fintech incubator FinLeap, which is behind the venture, more than 70% of German companies were affected by cybercrime activities within the last two years, but only one out of ten SMEs holds an insurance policy that covers the resulting damages. Because Perseus offers a platform, it can connect services and offer “best-of-fit” tech solutions.
Perseus co-founder and MD Inna Leontenkova says the service concept can be compared to German automotive clubs: “We aim to support SMEs that deal with large amounts of personal data, and have been under pressure from increasing numbers of cyberattacks recently like WannaCry or Petya. Most risk exposure comes from small things that employees do incorrectly, so we focus on prevention – the human side of cybersecurity. Our training focusses especially on employees. The membership model is an easy solution and economies of scale allow us to keep the fee low.”
There is no specific date yet, but it also plans to add an industry-specific cyber insurance proposition to its portfolio of services.
Perseus was founded this year by Leontenkova, Sven Weizenegger (also MD) and Steffen Teske. Leontenkova was a founding member of FinLeap’s digital insurance platform Element. Weizenegger has worked at online lender Kreditech. While Teske has worked for BT in Germany and is currently VP Central Europe and Benelux for messaging platform LivePerson.
The name of the new company, as you probably guessed, is a reference to “the Perseus legend, a hero in Greek mythology” and is a “strong metaphor for protection and security”.
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