Who Took the Crown of “Most Innovative Startup 2025?”
Always a crowd favorite, RSAC™ Innovation Sandbox contest has never failed to astound and amaze Conference attendees. ProjectDiscovery was crowned the Most Innovative Startup 2025!
RSAC™ Innovation Sandbox Celebrates 20 Years
RSAC™ 2025 marks 20 years for cybersecurity’s top innovation startup competition: RSAC™ Innovation Sandbox contest. The contest puts the spotlight on cybersecurity’s boldest new innovators while highlighting their potentially game-changing ideas.
Hundreds of submissions are reviewed and narrowed down to only 10 finalists. The Top 10 Finalists will take the stage during RSAC™ 2025 and will have three minutes to make their award-winning pitch to a panel of leading industry experts. Since the start of the contest, the Top 10 Finalists have collectively seen over 90 acquisitions and over $16.4 billion in investments.*
The Top 10 Finalists were carefully chosen by a judging panel of industry veterans, and this year’s competition included many strong contenders. The RSAC Team and ISB judging panel would like to thank all of the startups who submitted. This year’s competition featured the most impressive pool of submissions that we’ve seen over the last 20 years.
Meet the Finalists
Qualifying Criteria
The following must apply to your product:
- Launched between December 1, 2023 and February 14, 2025
- Takes an original and sound approach to solving a problem
- Matches an identified problem in the cybersecurity marketplace
- Has the potential to make a significant impact on information security
- Is validated through a client’s purchase and implementation of product
The following must apply to your company:
- Has implemented a plan or has a go-to-market strategy in place to execute delivery of product commercially
- Has a strong management structure and team in place
- Is privately held with less than $5M in revenue or Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) under $5M
(“Privately held” means the shares of the company are controlled by a small number of shareholders and are not publicly traded. Company must not be an Affiliate of an entity whose shares are publicly traded. Affiliate shall mean a legal entity that is controlled by, controls, or is under common control with the company. “Control” means more than 20% of the voting power or ownership interests)
Shining a Spotlight
For 20 years, RSAC™ Innovation Sandbox has been a driving force for innovation, providing a platform for emerging startups to unveil their revolutionary ideas. The RSAC™ ISB contest challenges a distinguished panel of industry experts to assess submissions, and select the Top 10 Finalists who later pitch their innovative solutions live at RSAC™ Conference.
The DARPA AIxCC Experience
For 20 years, RSAC™ Innovation Sandbox has been a driving force for innovation, providing a platform for emerging startups to unveil their revolutionary ideas. The RSAC™ ISB contest challenges a distinguished panel of industry experts to assess submissions, and select the Top 10 Finalists who later pitch their innovative solutions live at RSAC™ Conference.
RSAC™ 2025 Innovation Sandbox Top 10 Finalists to Receive Investment
As part of our commitment to supporting the community of cybersecurity innovators, we’re introducing an investment program for the Top 10 Finalists to solve the world’s most complex cybersecurity challenges. Starting at RSAC™ 2025, each of the Innovation Sandbox Top 10 Finalists will receive a Finalist-friendly $5 million uncapped SAFE investment (Simple Agreement for Future Equity).
"Where Are They Now?"
Axonius took the crown “Most Innovative Startup 2019.” See where they are now.
What Do Past Finalists and Winners Say?
"As a 2024 ISB Finalist, the contest provided significant benefit in terms of overall awareness for our company. It was a game changer for us.”
– Brooke Motta, CEO of RAD Security, RSAC™ 2024 Innovation Sandbox Finalist
“Making it into the RSAC™ ISB Top 10 and then winning the contest sends a very strong signal to not only the venture capitalists but the industry at large.”
– Rehan Jalil, CEO of Securiti AI, RSAC™ 2020 Innovation Sandbox Winner
“Awarding future winners with an uncapped SAFE note now makes applying to RSAC™ Innovation Sandbox a truly game-changing proposition."
– Ben Colman, Co-Founder and CEO of Reality Defender, RSAC™ 2024 Innovation Sandbox Winner
Questions?
- Please email us at InnovationSandbox@rsaconference.com.
- Important note: RSAC™ Innovation Sandbox judges that have a conflict of interest with a submitting company will abstain from evaluating the respective company. Participating judges evaluate companies based on the contest’s judging criteria. The judges’ scores are averaged and the finalists are ranked accordingly.
*Source: Crunchbase