India bets on AI to build first $10 bn cybersecurity firm by 2030

Accel-backed Indian startups are using AI-first innovation to take on global rivals in cybersecurity as the country aims to create a $10 billion firm within five years

India aims to build its first $10 billion cybersecurity company in the next few years, betting on artificial intelligence (AI) to help homegrown startups leapfrog established American and Israeli rivals, rather than copy their playbooks.

 

The strategy is already showing results, with former security executives from Indian tech giants launching AI-powered startups that are winning contracts against well-funded US competitors, according to Prayank Swaroop, a partner at venture capital firm Accel.

 

He cited a recent meeting with a team of experienced entrepreneurs from the Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi and Bombay. “They’ve built and sold four cybersecurity companies in the US, each valued between $300 million and $400 million,” Swaroop told Business Standard. “Now, they’re looking to replicate that success in India — and that’s incredible.”

 

This week, Accel hosted a cybersecurity summit in Bengaluru, bringing together founders and experts from established ecosystems such as Israel and the US to share insights on building successful ventures in the sector.

 

“If that happens, and if Indian enterprises become early design partners rather than price-sensitive skeptics, we will see India evolve from a market of consumption to one of global contribution in cybersecurity,” said Swaroop.

 

“By 2030, India could be home to globally trusted cybersecurity brands known for both innovation and reliability. We’re moving from just using global products to building world-class platforms ourselves—much like we did in SaaS, but this time in an even more critical and rapidly evolving space.”

 

AI transformation

 

However, experts say that India’s advantage lies in AI-enabled cybersecurity innovation — not by replicating legacy models, but by building bold, AI-native security infrastructure from the ground up. This is enabling the development of AI-powered solutions to both longstanding and emerging cybersecurity challenges.

 

Swaroop said there are significant opportunities for founders in India to build the next generation of global cybersecurity companies, focusing on areas like AI in cybersecurity, application security, and security operations.

 

India's cybersecurity landscape has seen remarkable growth. According to a report by the Data Security Council of India, the market reached approximately $6 billion in 2023, clocking a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 30 per cent from 2019 to 2023. The products segment alone grew by more than 3.5x, reaching close to $3.7 billion in 2023 from $1 billion in 2019.

 

Accel has funded over 50 cybersecurity companies globally, many of which have Indian-origin founders. Some of the promising Indian cybersecurity startups include Akto, Seezo, Securden, Sprinto, and ProjectDiscovery.io.

 

Swaroop said Indian cybersecurity startups are competing globally not on cost, but through product innovation. He said startups like Seezo, Akto, and Securden are winning contracts against heavily funded US and Israeli rivals. “Cybersecurity is a very unforgiving market,” he said. “If you make one mistake, the customer can have bad repercussions.”

 

Globally, Accel has backed cyber security firm CrowdStrike, which early this year surpassed a $100 billion market cap valuation for the very first time in its history.

 

Swaroop noted that India lacks institutions like Israel’s secretive cyber warfare unit, Unit 8200, often compared to the US National Security Agency or the UK’s GCHQ and Palo Alto Networks’s Unit 42. However, the country’s cybersecurity landscape is evolving as consumer and SaaS companies scale, driving demand for in-house security capabilities.

 

“So what is natural in our ecosystem now is we are getting a very large number of consumer and SaaS companies,” he said. With billions of daily transactions and valuable customer data, firms like Flipkart, Meesho, Razorpay, and Urban Company are establishing dedicated cybersecurity teams. The shift marks a strategic move toward building security from within.

 

Accel’s Cybersecurity summit provided a platform for startups to showcase their cybersecurity innovations and pitch to a select group of chief information security officers (CISO) from both large enterprises and tech unicorns like PhonePe, Groww, and Flipkart.

 

Many of such professionals identified cybersecurity problems within their organisations, took initiative to solve them, and are now launching their own firms.

 

“Seezo and Akto are very good examples of that,” said Swaroop. “So we don’t have a Unit 42, but we have these large SaaS and consumer companies which are increasingly having sophisticated cybersecurity teams from which the talent will come out.”

 

Interest from the Indian government in homegrown cybersecurity is also rising, driven in part by defence procurement policy. Swaroop also noted growing involvement from ex-armed forces-led funds.

 

Swaroop said India is poised to become the net exporter of security innovation. The key inflection point will come when a few Indian cybersecurity startups cross $50–$100 million in ARR (annual recurring revenue) and resist early buyout offers, opting instead to build global companies.