What does Startups need from cyber security?
Key takeaways
- The engagement is scoped around security that scales with you, not a generic checklist.
- A written scope, a fixed price band and a delivery date before work starts.
- A technical report for your engineers and a one-page summary for decision makers.
- A retest after remediation is included as standard on assessment work.
As of 24 October 2026: the service descriptions, prices and turnaround figures on this page are current.
What actually matters for startups?
Most security advice is written for one kind of organisation and applied to all of them. That is why so much of it is irrelevant to you. Here is what we treat as the real exposure in your situation, and how each item is handled.
- A pre-Series-A security review investors will accept
- Cloud and Kubernetes configuration review
- A bug bounty that is proportionate to your stage
- Security as a hiring requirement, not a blocker
- Cost-effective coverage of a small engineering team
Which services fit this situation?
Two organisations in this category can have completely different exposure, and a scope that ignores that wastes your money. This is the usual shape of an engagement here.
| Service | When it is the right answer | Indicative range (ex-GST) |
|---|---|---|
| VAPT and penetration testing | You want to know what an attacker would actually find | Rs 45,000 - 6,00,000 |
| Cyber security audit and gap assessment | You need the map before you commission the test | Rs 60,000 - 2,50,000 |
| Managed security operations | You need someone watching between engagements | Rs 2,50,000 - 12,00,000 per year |
| Incident response retainer | You need a 4-hour response when something happens | Rs 2,50,000 - 6,00,000 per year |
| DPDP and CERT-In readiness | Regulatory deadlines are the driver | Rs 1,00,000 - 5,00,000 |
| Awareness training and phishing simulation | Your people are the most likely route in | Rs 25,000 - 1,50,000 |
How do you approach it?
The first step is a short conversation, and it is worth having properly. What are you protecting, has anything happened before, and what would a serious failure cost in money, reputation or downtime? The answer gives us a scope that fits your budget, often smaller than the one first asked for. Work that gets finished is worth more than work that gets started and abandoned.
Delivery runs against a signed rules-of-engagement document, and you see findings as they are raised. That is deliberate: your team can begin work on the most serious items while the engagement is still live, instead of receiving everything at once in a final report.
Which services fit this situation?
VAPT & Penetration Testing
Authorised vulnerability assessment and penetration testing for web, mobile, API and network.
Web Application Security
Web app testing that reads like a breach report, not a scanner dump.
Mobile App Security Testing
iOS and Android testing of the app binary, the API behind it, and the data it stores.
API Security Testing
Where most modern breaches actually happen, and where most scanners never look.
Network Penetration Testing
Internal network, external perimeter, firewall and segmentation testing.
Cloud Security Assessment
AWS, Azure and GCP configuration review, plus container and Kubernetes testing.
Incident Response & Retainer
24/7 help when something is already happening — and a retainer to stop it happening.
Ransomware Recovery & File Unlock
When files are encrypted, the priority is containment first and recovery second.
What questions do we get asked by startups?
Talk to an analyst about startups
One call is usually enough to work out whether this is the right engagement and what it should cover. If it is smaller than you expected, we will say so.
Request a quote See pricingLast reviewed: 24 October 2026. Information on this page is general guidance, not legal advice. Prices are indicative bands for a typical scope and are confirmed in a written quote before any work begins.