Swiss researchers, sponsored by Switzerland’s Cyber-Defence Campus, have recently released a groundbreaking study that highlights blockchain as the most successful investment in the field of information security startups. The study, titled “Measuring the performance of investments in information security startups: An empirical analysis by cybersecurity sectors using Crunchbase data,” examines and ranks 19 sectors within the information security startup industry, ranging from artificial intelligence to spam filtering.
The researchers found that investments in blockchain security startups yielded significantly higher returns compared to artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, cloud, and other sectors. AI came in second place, with an expected annualized arithmetic return of 67.25%. It is important to note that these figures do not encompass the broader AI and tech sectors, which include non-security hardware and software products and services, such as Nvidia’s GPUs and OpenAI’s GPT tech.
When focusing solely on security sector investments, blockchain not only emerged as the leader in terms of returns but also as the fastest-growing sector. On average, blockchain startups progressed from their initial funding round to their initial public offering (IPO) in less than three and a half years. In contrast, startups in other sectors took between four and seven years, with e-signature startups requiring a decade.
The study relied on Crunchbase data, which the researchers found to be comprehensive in terms of funding round information but lacking in IPO entries. To address this data gap, the researchers employed a machine learning approach. Additionally, the team suggests that the performance of blockchain security startups may be influenced by investors’ interest in cryptocurrencies. Therefore, it is important to note that the study’s data only covers the period from 2010 to 2022, excluding much of the post-COVID activity that has been described as transformative for both blockchain and crypto in other studies.