In a Nutshell
- Uniqkey, a Denmark-based cybersecurity startup with core development teams in Poland and Ukraine, secured €5.35M in funding, led by Swedish VC BackingMinds.
- The team’s MobileID-like solution aims to be a digital security guard for employees and their passwords, boosting cyber awareness and protection across Europe.
- Uniqkey’s strategy includes leveraging recent regulatory changes like NIS2 and DORA to position itself as a leader in the European cybersecurity market, particularly focusing on underserved SMEs.
Uniqkey wants to become the employee’s digital security guard
Cybersecurity has become one of the most prevalent topics in the tech industry in recent years. With the proliferation of digital services and AI advancement, it’s no wonder. Funding of cybersecurity startups is also on the rise, according to Crunchbase, the Q1 of 2024 had its best quarter since Q1 of 2022 — surging 144% year to year.
The newest addition to the percentage comes from Denmark with strong roots in CEE. Uniqkey is a cybersecurity startup focused on becoming a sort of MobileID for company passwords. Even though the HQ is in Denmark, the staple of its product – the developers – are based in Poland and managed by CTO, Roman Parashchak from Ukraine.
This summer they’ve closed a deal worth €5.35 million, led by Swedish VC BackingMinds in combination with industry veterans such as Jesper Zerlang (ex-CEO of Logpoint), Lars Ankjer, Otto Krabbe, Rolf Bladt, and several well-known angels and key employees.
Uniqkey’s solution requires a mobile app when logging into the company’s systems – like we use local ID apps across Europe when using our bank accounts. But the company’s ambition goes beyond passwords, Uniqkey wants to become the employee’s digital security guard – protecting them, educating them, and heightening the cyber awareness level across organizations.
“After tracking 500+ cybersecurity startups across Europe, it was clear that Uniqkey stood out. We have been impressed by Hakan Yagci, the company’s management team, their technical expertise and are very happy to support them in their mission to protect Europe from the growing cyber threat“, says Sara Wimmercranz, Founding Partner at BackingMinds which operates €50 million fund.
Engineered by CEE developers
Hakan Yagci (CEO) officially started Uniqkey in 2017, after witnessing the complexities in implementing and using cybersecurity solutions in his previous work. After leaving OrderYoyo, which IPO’ed in 2021, he set his sails on founding Uniqkey and assembling a resilient team.
The company currently employs 50 people, but one of the pivotal hires was for the position of CTO. Before he joined Uniqkey full-time in June 2021 as a CTO, Roman Paraschak was consulting Uniqkey so they’ve built a strong synergy from the very beginning.
“Since joining, Uniqkey’s management and investors have shown me a lot of trust. I got the support to do things according to my vision. I’ve since been very impressed with my team and strive to do things better every day.
We’ve just gone through a major rebuild—a 1.5 year project—while maintaining the old platform, and that proved to be quite challenging. Our team gave outstanding results even during wartime.”
Roman doesn’t spare a word of praise for his team, pointing out that they’ve been “extremely lucky with the professionals they attracted”. Moved by their tenacity and expertise, from early on, Uniqkey management aimed to blur the border between Danish and Ukrainian offices: they’ve been fostering a product ownership culture so that people feel it is their product.
“But given the war in Ukraine, we decided to move some of our employees to Poland and even paid to shelter them in Denmark, when the war with Russia started. By investing continuously in our team like the above, we’ve created a strong culture and will keep investing in CEE.”
Their Specialty: SMEs
Uniqkey has the ambition to become a leader in the European market for password management in the next 3 years. The newest investment will be used for attaining that goal. They are not the only option on the market but they believe they have what it takes to prevail. For now, with 500 clients they sure have a good start.
Competition in the cybersec market is not a surprise if we take into account the recent regulatory changes concerning data protection. NIS2 and DORA are just behind the corner, which will hold directors and boards personally responsible if the companies do not have sound IT security implemented. Just as GDPR changed the way companies process data, so NIS2 will change the way companies must prioritize IT security.
Beyond the obvious macro picture – geopolitical tension, higher defense budgets, focus on domestic capabilities and up-skilling of workers in cybersecurity across Europe, Uniqkey thinks the overlooked areas lie within SME’s.
“SMEs typically don’t prioritize cybersecurity as the first thing, they have lower budgets and most cybersecurity solutions cater to enterprise companies, leaving SMEs left out of the equation. Given the average complexity of cybersecurity solutions, which often require significant resources to implement effectively, SMEs are particularly disadvantaged,” pointed Roman.
And this is exactly the sweet spot Uniqkey wishes to capitalize on.
