Shira Kaplan: Building up a Cybersecurity Ecosystem in Switzerland

Shira Kaplan is the founder and CEO of Cyverse AG. Shira’s technology background dates back to her military service in Israel’s 8200 Elite Technology Unit of the Secret Service, where she served as an intelligence analyst. She has held business management positions at publicly traded companies including Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Bank Julius Baer & Co. in Zurich.

thebroker is proud to speak with world-renowned cybersecurity expert Shira Kaplan, founder of Cyverse AG and Cyverse Capital.

Shira Kaplan, as a former agent with the Israeli Secret Service, I have to ask you how it was possible that Israel was not prepared for the massive Hamas attack on October 7, 2023?

On the eve of October 7^th, Israel was a divided country focusing on its internal fighting rather than keeping a close eye on its enemies. Our nation was busy protesting on the streets against our government, on the topic of the Judicial Reform. Our troops were not deployed anywhere near Gaza.

There were fully-detailed reports about the precise attack of Hamas, which were available already in October 2022, one year before the attack. They were ignored and dismissed by our heads of Intelligence.

Worst of all, our Intelligence community started depending too heavily on technology and AI, and paid too little attention to human Intelligence and common sense.

All of this together, led us to the biggest Intelligence failure since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

You are a graduate of Harvard University (BA in Political Science and Chinese), have an MBA from the University of St. Gallen HSG, where you wrote your thesis on Swiss venture capital investments in Israeli cybersecurity startups and where you were awarded the “Women in Business” scholarship. In 2017, you were selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and in 2018 as one of the “40 Israeli business leaders under 40” by the Israeli financial magazine Globes. You are also a member of the advisory board of the Geneva School of Economics and Management (GSEM) and an active board member of the Weizmann Young European Network (WYEN). You have also won many awards such as the “Seeds of Peace” scholarship, the Goldman Scholarship and the Milken Scholarship. I may very well have forgotten to mention one or two of these. How is that possible, areyou not even 40 years old yet?

The most important thing you forgot to mention, Binci. I have 3 children: 10, 8 and 5 years old. They are my real focus!

Perhaps the answer is that I make relatively quick decisions and execute on them quickly. I am not afraid to take risks, if they make sense to me. I trust myself and my close circle of advisors. I am focused on the present and the future, rarely about the past, and do not get emotional about the business.

Why did you come to Switzerland over 10 years ago from the deep-tech country and start-up and cyber nation of Israel?

Like many other expats, I followed my Israeli husband, Itay Shlomo, to Switzerland. Itay relocated to Zurich with KPMG, where he went into the Transaction Services Practice, and later joined Gategroup.

I first went into Private Banking with Bank Julius Baer, and in parallel did my MBA in St Gallen University, where the idea for Cyverse AG and Cyverse Capital was born.

In 2016 you founded Cyverse AG in Zug. What does your company offer?

Cyverse AG is primarily a reselling business. What we offer are next-gen, best-in-breed cyber-security technologies for enterprises.

To give you an example, we offer a solution that enables backup & fast recovery from ransomware for critical systems. This solution is quite interesting for insurance companies, because it protects their insured customers from cyberattacks, and allows for their business continuity during system failure.

Another solution is an AI Security Platform. Think about it like a Secure ChatGPT, that is in line with your company’s policies and procedures, and does not allow your employees to leak data to GenAI tools.

And we have many other interesting technological solutions.

In addition to that, Cyverse AG also “leases” cyber-security consultants, that are specialized in supporting your development teams, updating relevant documentation according to certain regulatory frameworks, pentesting, and many other highly skilled capabilities. Nowadays it has become quite difficult to find highly skilled and affordable cyber-security experts. We provide them to multinational and local Swiss customers.

Cyverse is the leading provider of Israeli next-generation cyber security solutions in the DACH region and Scandinavia. Which country uses your services the most?

75% of our customers are Swiss (multinational and local) companies. 10% of our customers are from Scandinavia, another 10% are German, and another 5% are from other countries, including Austria and the UK.

The top four universities in Israel and ETH and EPFL in Switzerland have produced 1500 spin-offs in Israel and 1100 in Switzerland respectively. Are there any other similarities between the two countries?

Switzerland and Israel are both small countries, with around 9 million inhabitants, that are highly innovative, highly literate, with low unemployment rate, high living standards, and relying on knowledge-based economies.

You are an angel investor in Israeli tech and cyber security start-ups. Living in Switzerland, don’t you also want to invest in Swiss start-ups?

I am very keen to invest in Swiss cyber-security startups, and am certainly looking for the right companies to invest in.

At Cyverse Capital, we invest in cyber-security startups that meet the following criteria: (1) the founding team is highly commercial, and not just “techie” (2) the valuation is attractive (3) the startup has strong competition in its domain (4) it is clear from the onset which possible companies will acquire this startup, and for how much.

I still have not met a Swiss cyber-security startup that meets all of these criteria.

You want to build a cybersecurity ecosystem in Switzerland. Since Israel is at the center of the global cybersecurity ecosystem, should the Swiss cybersecurity ecosystem be similar to the Israeli one?

Switzerland for many decades has offered physical safety and security. This is a big asset which Switzerland can leverage in the digital world. It therefore only makes sense that Switzerland would become a global center for digital trust and cyber-security.

However, Switzerland is struggling to jumpstart its cyber-security ecosystem.

There are still a few elements that are missing here, in mu opinion: (1) bold, globally-thinking and commercially-minded cyber entrepreneurs (2) dedicated cyber-security venture funds (3) a culture of speed and transparency, which is critical to the success of cyber-security (and any) startup ecosystem (4) multinational or Swiss companies that are ready to pay 300 million – 500 million CHF on a Swiss cyber-security startup acquisition.

Once all of the above stars align, the ecosystem here will thrive, believe me.

Who have you already been able to inspire?

Hopefully, the following, in this order:

• My daughters;
• The young Swiss and Israeli women that I have mentored over the last decade;
• The Swiss and Israeli cyber-security entrepreneurs I have worked with;
• And some cyber-security investors who like my work.

Of the 1206 unicorns in the cyber security sector worldwide, 43 are in Israel. In Switzerland, there are just 6. What must Switzerland do to make more money available to start-ups?

If Switzerland wants to be competitive globally in venture capital, there needs to be a shift in how business is done here.

First of all, speed of business is of the essence: it has to take 5 minutes for a young startup Founder to meet the most important and busy Swiss businessperson, not 5 months, or 5 years… People need to trust in each other, open their rolodexes, and introduce people to each other more systematically. This is how Silicon Valley does business, and this is how venture capital works in Tel Aviv. This creates speed and momentum.

Second, the ecosystem needs to be more transparent, and less “private”. Let me give you a concrete example. If I see that there is an “exit” (M&A) of a Swiss startup, that gets acquired by another company, but I cannot find easily (for example, on Crunchbase.com) (1) how much capital the Swiss startup had raised, and (2) for how much it was acquired, that makes me, as an investor, feel blindfolded. I would rather invest in an ecosystem where all these numbers and data are public, because that helps me make much more educated decisions about my venture investments.

What do you think of the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland foundation, which will be supporting start-ups, scale-ups and investors in the deep tech sector since this year and aims to mobilize CHF 50 billion over the next ten years?

I think Deep Tech Nation a fantastic initiative.

But Deep Tech Nation will only be successful if Switzerland embraces a culture of openness, speed and transparency in the venture industry. And if Swiss entrepreneurs begin marketing themselves more strongly, and become less shy and modest than they are now. Being shy is not competitive on a global scale.

Will there soon be a Silicon Mountain in Switzerland after Silicon Valley in the U.S. and Silicon Wadi in Israel?

Thankfully for Switzerland, it has no wars, so the country is not forced to innovate in the military the way that Israel and the United States are forced to. Innovation here is a privilege, not a must.

The culture in Switzerland is still more risk-averse, rather than risk-taking, I would say. For a young person, working in one of the Swiss multinationals is still a very attractive. If they want to have a balanced life, finish at 5pm, go to the gym, and have a drink with their girlfriend after work, a young person in Zurich, Biel or Geneva would choose working for a well-paying Swiss corporation, rather than launch a startup.

That being said, the country has many elements that are needed to become Silicon Mountain: brilliant engineers, the peace of mind to innovate, an incredible level of efficiency, and lots of investor money.

All we need is some consensus of the Swiss people that venture capital is indeed the way forward for this country… If the Swiss people (and Bern) put their hearts and minds to it, the venture industry here will go a very long way here in the next 20 years.

Also read and listen to: Video #2: Manuel Pachlatko, Head Cyber Specialty bei Aon Schweiz