A new year is fast approaching. 2024 has been a difficult one for businesses with geopolitical tensions, rising prices and many changes to contend with in the workplace. Businesses have still managed to grow, even with these challenges. Intelligent CXO spoke to four companies about their 2025 growth plans.
Richard Orange, Vice President of Sales, EMEA, Abnormal Security:
2024 has been the year of growth for Abnormal Security as we continue on our journey to becoming a generational company. Abnormal recently secured US$250 million in Series D funding, raising our valuation to US$5.1 billion. The new investment follows years of exponential growth as the company continues to see 100%+ year-over-year increases in annual recurring revenue, recently exceeding US$200 million in ARR [Annual Recurring Revenue].
As Abnormal continues its growth trajectory, we are increasingly focused on international expansion, including pushing further into the EMEA region, primarily in the Nordics, Benelux, Germany and France. Abnormal currently has over 200 customers in Europe, nine of which are part of the FTSE 100. As of June this year, we’ve seen a 100% growth in revenue in the region. We expect this number to keep rising in 2025.
The company is additionally focused on broadening our suite of AI-powered cybersecurity solutions, which enable us to autonomously protect against more types of threats (including AI-generated attacks) across the ever-expanding surface area of enterprise applications.
This will include continued investment in the research and development of Abnormal’s core behavioural and autonomous AI decisioning systems, as well as expanding current products beyond email to provide comprehensive protection across other surface areas in the cloud environment, including identity, SaaS and cloud infrastructure applications.
Abnormal is also investing in its channel partnerships to navigate the crowded cybersecurity market effectively. By enhancing partner enablement and offering better incentives, we can ensure that trusted advisors are able to help customers identify and implement the most effective security solutions amid a proliferation of AI-driven claims.
Growing our influence worldwide will be complemented by a strategic push into the public sector, as we progress toward obtaining full FedRAMP [Federal Risk and Authorisation Management Programme] authorisation. This will allow Abnormal to extend its services to government agencies in the United States, enhancing our portfolio and broadening our customer base.
Underpinning Abnormal’s growth plans is a commitment to expanding our workforce. In the last 12 months alone, Abnormal has grown its headcount in EMEA by nearly 300%. This growth is essential for ensuring that Abnormal can effectively meet the demands of its expanding client base.
Abnormal continues to be recognised as a leader in AI-native human behaviour security, and in 2025, we will continue to focus investing in our product, expanding across new markets and growing our team. Strengthening our capabilities and increasing our presence – becoming established among the world’s elite cloud companies – will not only boost our credibility, but also set the stage for our strategic vision in 2025 and beyond.
Andrew Lintell, General Manager, EMEA, Claroty:
In 2025, organisations in EMEA will move ever faster to adopt and deploy OT security technologies. This rapidly changing customer expectation and prioritisation will see us work harder than ever before to be more than just a technology vendor, in line with these demands.
We strive to be a trusted partner for organisations navigating the complexities of OT Digital Transformation, as it is frequently brought into closer management with IT. In EMEA, it’s important to me that we focus on delivering a truly customer-centric model. This means helping organisations not just choose the right vendor, but also ensure that they have the right approach to ensure successful delivery and value-realisation through best practice advice, project management and alignment with a key partner who will aid them in their Digital Transformation journey.
Our vision aligns with the broader trend where CISOs are being tasked with greater responsibility for securing both OT as well as IT environments. As these systems become increasingly interconnected, a holistic approach to security is essential to ensuring operational resilience.
Claroty’s growth strategy for 2025 hinges on forging deep, strategic partnerships with select elite partners to help advise and deploy, as well as potentially operate solutions for customers. Partners are critical to the growth plans of Claroty in 2025. While OT security is still considered an emerging market compared to IT security, it is rapidly expanding and requires specialised knowledge to successfully navigate its complexities.
Claroty’s goal is to work closely with multinational and multilingual OT advisory companies that already have strong relationships with large industrial clients. These partners will deliver long-term value, not just in the initial deployment of solutions but throughout the entire lifecycle, ensuring ongoing optimisation and security through value added services enabled by Claroty. By enabling partners to act as trusted advisors to their clients, Claroty aims to ensure that its solutions not only address immediate security concerns but also support broader Digital Transformation goals set by the board.
In 2025, Claroty’s focus will remain on evolving its channel enablement efforts, with significant investments in new programmes, classifications, certifications and enablement, both online and in the field. Partnerships will play an increasingly central role in Claroty’s revenue model.
Our expansion strategy will also focus on specific, high-growth sectors that are particularly reliant on OT systems. We will look to strengthen our offerings in manufacturing, utilities and energy – both oil and gas but also support the industry transition to renewables. Additionally, sectors such as logistics and food and beverage are strong adopters of OT security, given their reliance on efficient and secure operational processes.
Vivian Smetsers, CFO of LionVolt:
For LionVolt, this year has been pivotal, filled with significant achievements that set the stage for our growth plans in the next years. LionVolt, a Dutch company specialising in advanced 3D anode architecture technology to be used in battery cells, is at the forefront of innovation in energy storage solutions. One major accomplishment was securing a €15 million capital injection, which underscores our investors’ confidence in our vision and potential. This funding will enable us to scale up our production operations to meet the increasing demand for our cutting-edge battery solutions. With our focus on sustainability and advanced technology, this capital will help expand our production capacity and spur further innovation.
In addition, we acquired a battery cell manufacturing facility in Scotland earlier this year. This strategic move enhances our production capabilities and brings us closer to key markets. As a result, we have massively accelerated our timelines for going to market with our first product, a 3D lithium metal anode. The state-of-the-art facilities at the plant will allow us to produce high-quality battery cells efficiently and sustainably and to deliver these to our first customers in 2025. We are committed to revolutionising the battery industry by developing a 3D anode architecture that all OEM [original equipment manufacturer] and cell manufacturers will want to include in their supply chain. In simple terms, with our technology we can pack a lot more energy in a cell, and at the same time offer fast charging. As this is a drop in solution, this can be easily incorporated in existing supply chains and produced at large scale. We are using techniques that have been proven already in other industries, making our product scalable and cost-effective.
Looking ahead to 2025, we have big plans. We will continue to invest in our manufacturing capabilities, leveraging the new capital and enhanced facilities in Scotland. Our focus will remain on delivering high-quality, sustainable battery solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. Concurrently, we will strengthen our financial operations to support ongoing innovation, R&D and expansion into new markets.
To support these plans, we will continue to build out strict operational controls and smart financial planning. Establishing and maintaining a solid foundation of accountability and transparency will be crucial for attracting and managing ongoing investments. We will set up a framework for financial governance that will enable us to manage risks effectively and make well-informed strategic decisions. This methodical approach will ensure our ability to sustain growth in the long-term.
As hiring is one of top priorities for 2025, we’re committed to hiring talented individuals with the skillsets we need from across the globe to support our mission. We are committed to growing diverse teams filled with varied experiences and ideas, driving innovation and enhancing problem-solving capabilities. For us, diversity and inclusion are fundamental to our identity as a company and will remain central to our growth strategy.
With all of this in mind, I am excited about what the future holds for LionVolt. Our journey is just beginning, and the opportunities ahead in 2025 are incredibly promising.
Victoria Harris, Founder, The Curve Platform:
Imagine trying to get up Mt Everest without snacks, crampons or a map. That was what our fundraising journey was like and how unprepared we were for the entire ordeal. However, what we lacked in tools or experience, we made up for with unwavering enthusiasm, determination and passion.
The pessimistic warnings were exactly what we needed to hear. We were determined to prove everyone wrong, and in record time. Told it was near impossible in the economic climate, we set our sights on £500,000 – in two months. No amount of condescending comments were about to put us off. If anything, it only added fuel to our already building fire.
In March of this year, my Co-founder and I decided to take the idea of getting investors on board more seriously. We were warned an almost embarrassing amount to not bother. Bright eyed and full of confidence, we had no idea the mountain we were about to climb but we sure as sh*t weren’t going to let a bunch of balding, middle-aged dudes tell us it wasn’t a good idea.
‘Raising money’ or ‘taking external capital’ is no easy feat. To be more blunt, it’s incredibly bloody hard – and even more so if you’re a woman.
Female-founded start-ups generate 78 cents per dollar invested, compared to male-founded start-ups which only generate 31 cents. Just to really hammer the point home, female founders generate 10% more revenue over a five-year period, than companies with male founders. The disconnect was really hard to get our head around. Did lots of women still not think business wasn’t a place for them? Because we knew one thing for sure, it certainly wasn’t due to a lack of ability.
In our case we wanted to raise £500,000. We had big plans to launch The World’s Biggest Investing Club, which has now successfully launched to our 50k+ community of women. The finance industry had been its own exclusive club for too long, so we wanted to create our own – a cross between Reddit, a book club and a dinner party. We wanted to create a place where women were encouraged and excited to learn about specific investment ideas and discuss what they’re investing in.
To do this we needed not only money and technology, but people too. Our first hire was Dani. Her experience in previously running businesses, plus building partnerships and brand exposure was the perfect first employee for a business wanting to crack (and scale) in the UK market.
It’s worth noting, The Curve was originally born in New Zealand. We quickly became a big fish in a (very) small pond. However, we quickly saw that the investing knowledge gap wasn’t just a NZ issue, it was a global issue. So we thought, why not head to the financial capital of the world and be a (very) small fish in a massive pond. You’ve probably figured out by now, we don’t do things by halves at The Curve.
Our mission is to provide women with equal opportunities through financial empowerment. And we will do this by becoming ‘the destination for all things money’. If you have never invested before, and don’t know what a stock is – welcome! If you are in debt to your eyeballs and think there is no way out – welcome! If you want to invest in a way that aligns with your values – welcome! We will (eventually) be a place for everyone, regardless of their money journey. But right now, we’re focused on education.
We want to give people the tools to create their own wealth, to invest, to feel confident and free. It’s absolutely mind blowing to me that male founders are 60% more likely to receive funding for the same idea pitched by females. Reflecting back on our journey, the amount we learnt in such a short space of time made it abundantly clear how lacking women are for open and honest resources when it comes to money and business.