Apple capital is an investment institution focusing on the field of network security. From 2009 to now, it has set up 6 network security funds and invested in more than 30 network security enterprises in 9 years. It is the VC institution with the largest number of domestic investment in network security enterprises. 80% of its projects have entered the next round.

Summing up the investment experience in the past nine years, we have two sentences: "when others don't see clearly, we are firmly optimistic", "those who are willing to wait will have good returns". Because the field of network security is mainly 2B, 2b grows slower than 2c, so as an investor, it needs more patience and gives enterprises more time to grow.

Network security is a highly technical and innovative field. The investment direction of Apple capital is changing every year. Apple Capital spends a lot of time on industry research and technology research every year. Apple's investment direction in phase I is cloud security, including security treasure, CHENFENG, Qingsong cloud security, etc.; in phase II, mobile security and machine learning are applied in the security field, including zhizhangyi, digital alliance network, Hansi technology, Changting technology, etc.; in phase III, data security and business security are invested, including Zhixiang technology, Quanzhi technology, red finger, and yunfatong All the above three funds have been invested. Apple dollar phase I fund rain capital has invested in eight projects, including clarity, an industrial control security enterprise, capital 8, Linux Server Protection EDR enterprise, oasis labs, a blockchain privacy data protection platform, tetrate, and altite networks. At present, the newly established new funds include apple phase IV and Apple Growth Fund.

From February to April this year, apple team spent a lot of time studying the trend and change of global network security market:

First of all, from the perspective of the evolution of the network world, network security will permeate all walks of life, "network security" is very important

It can be summarized as two points:

a) The network world is more and more complex, and the security will be more complex;

b) The network world and our real world are more and more inseparable. The network security is more and more important to our life and work, so the security will be more and more "just needed".

Second, from the perspective of the global network security market, it is growing rapidly and showing an accelerated growth trend

From US $3.5 billion in 2004 to US $138 billion in 2017, an increase of more than 39 times, with a compound annual growth rate of 33%; at this rate, by 2021, the scale of the network security market will reach US $1 trillion; then, it still fails to catch up with the growth rate of the black industry, and in 2021, the economic loss brought by the network crime will reach US $6 trillion.  

Third, from the perspective of China's network security market, the next few years will be the turning point of accelerating growth

China's network security started relatively late, roughly divided into three stages. 1995-2011 is the first stage, the first stage is relatively slow, 2012-2017 is the second stage, the second stage is significantly faster, more than 30%, 2018-2021 is the third stage, the third stage will be faster, more than 50%, accelerating growth, and China's network security market in the next three to five years It will reach trillions.

Fourth, the characteristics of network security market growth: exponential (explosive) growth

The growth of network security market is exponential, but non-linear. This is mainly because of the multi-dimensional growth of network security:

(1) With the continuous improvement of the degree of Internet in each industry, more and more industries are involved,;

(2) Explosive growth of computing units: for example, mobile phones, smart devices, Internet of things devices, industrial Internet devices, smart cars, robots, etc;

(3) Policy: gdpr in Europe, cyber security law in China and implementation details in the next few years are constantly implemented;

(4) Frequent hacker attacks stimulate the rapid growth of security budget;

(5) The value of data is increasing, the degree of asset digitization is increasing, and the security of data is becoming more and more important;

The five dimensions grow at the same time, leading to the exponential growth of security budget and security market. In particular, the three years from 2018 to 2020 are turning points for accelerated growth.

Fifth, from the perspective of the United States

Among the listed companies of network security in the United States, the annual compound growth rate of the listed companies after 2012 is almost more than 50%. The annual compound growth rate of several listed companies in 2017 and 2018 is more than 100%. 2012 is the first turning point; 2017 is another turning point of accelerating growth, and gradually enters the exponential growth channel. So in recent years after 2012, American VC is more fond of investing in the field of network security. American VC (eg: American Sequoia) has made a lot of money from the field of network security.

Sixth, from the perspective of China

2012-2017 is the second stage of the development of network security. The development speed is fast. The development of network security will be faster from 2018. As far as I know, the revenue growth of most security companies in 2018 is more than 50%, and the performance of innovative security companies is more than 400-500%. 2018 is the turning point of China's network security market.

Seventh, from the perspective of American network security investment

Since 2012, American VC's investment returns in the field of network security have been very rich, so the investment scale has also increased year by year. From 2011, VC's total investment in the field of network security was 800 million US dollars, to 2017, VC's total investment has exceeded 5 billion US dollars, an increase of 6.5 times in five years.

Eighth, China's network security investment

China's VC investment in the field of network security has just begun. The total investment in 2017 is estimated to be about 2 billion yuan. 2017 is the first year of China's network security investment. As China's network security market is in a period of rapid growth, it will attract more capital in the next few years, and it also needs friends from the capital community to grow up and strengthen the network security industry.