Increasing cyber attacks and a growing commitment to counter them is likely to create new European office and data centre demand, according to Savills.
New data from the firm finds that the growing number of European cyber attacks has attracted €2.3 bn of venture capital (VC) investment into European headquartered cybersecurity companies during the last five years, with a record level of €724 mln recorded in 2019.
The UK accounted for €1.3 bn of the five year total, with an increasing flow of capital into companies based in mainland Europe, led by France (€316 mln), Switzerland (€303 mln), Ireland (€70 mln), Germany (€68 mln) and Spain (€36 mln).
With both the number of employees working from home on their personal devices and the number of cyber attacks having increased since Covid-19, investment into cybersecurity is expected to increase even further.
Mike Barnes, associate, European research, at Savills, said: 'Corporate investment activity into the cybersecurity sector is a lead indicator of latent occupational demand within the sector.
'Although many of the leading cyber companies’ global headquarters are clustered in Silicon Valley, California, many US companies maintain a large European footprint. Palo Alto Networks, for example, currently occupies eight floors in Amsterdam’s Oval Tower.
'Mimecast opened its 7,339 m2 headquarters at One Finsbury Avenue, London during 2019 and its satellite offices in Amsterdam and Munich service the European regional markets.'
Jeremy Bates, EMEA Head of occupational markets, Savills, added: 'We expect occupiers to expand in cities which attract higher levels of corporate funding including within the UK, France and Switzerland. Government funding targeting universities and startups will develop cyber talent and foster business clusters.
'Increased data usage will require additional storage, creating new occupational demand for data centres. Given that data centres contain a company’s business-critical data, having both the facility and equipment secured against cybersecurity breaches is essential.'
