Season 8, Post 40: Ready for the Cambrian explosion?

The Cambrian explosion was a rapid evolutionary event beginning about 539 million years ago that saw animal life diversify dramatically, transforming the complexity of Earth’s marine ecosystems. The term was used by Dave Palmer to describe the current technology landscape. There will “absolutely be winners” but at the same time, “there are simply not enough buyers.”

Mr Palmer, with whom your author recently enjoyed a coffee, is well-placed to comment. He has over 25 years’ experience in IT and has worked for the last four as a Partner at Ten Eleven Ventures, a venture capital firm exclusively dedicated to cybersecurity. Prior to that, he was co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Darktrace (a leading cyber business we had followed since 2021). Our wide-ranging conversation took in AI, blockchain, cryptography, cyber, digital identities, quantum and more.

If the Cambrian explosion develops in the way that Dave foresees, then there will be some “interesting shifts” and “significant realignments” to come. The boundaries between artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and information technology will likely continue to blur. This is a view we have consistently advocated: as the pace of innovation accelerates, trends overlap and become self-reinforcing. In the future (cyber)security might simply become “an essential but back-end part of IT”, more “basic hygiene” and less “sticking plaster.”

Two questions naturally arise from this worldview: who wins, and what are the next most important problems to solve? Platformisation represents perhaps the most likely way forward, according to Dave. Large companies have the benefit of scale and customer trust. They can (and indeed should) take this a step further, however. For Dave, “we are not making enough inroads into tackling fraud” in either the consumer or enterprise sphere. There is a need for more integrated application security. The major payment processors as well as hyperscalers have “a right to win” in this space.

For early-stage companies to succeed, Dave recommends “customer empathy” – be realistic about what you can achieve. “Execution matters more than a pure technical idea.” Cyber may be an “evergreen” market, but this does not necessarily mean an evergreen opportunity for every vendor. After the Cambrian explosion came the Ordovician period of massive diversification. Watch this space.

4 November 2026

The above is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any forward looking statements are based on assumptions that may change. The views expressed are solely those of the author at the time of writing. The author of this piece has no personal direct investment in the business. This article should not be relied upon for investment decisions. Past performance does not predict future returns, the value of investments and income from them can fall as well as rise.