💡 The Irish Startup Kicking Big Tech’s Ass

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Picture this: you're basking in the warmth of a Greek beach on your honeymoon, savouring the peace, when an urgent call shatters the calm. This is exactly what happened in 2014 to Eoin Hinchy, then head of Europe’s cybersecurity team at eBay. The company was under siege—hackers had compromised data for 145 million users, costing $200 million in lost revenue and cementing its place as one of the largest cyberattacks in history.

What should have been a time of bliss became a moment of revelation. The crisis underscored the pressing need for a paradigm shift in cybersecurity. Outdated manual processes were no match for the swift and relentless nature of modern cyber threats. For Hinchy, the breach wasn't just a professional challenge; it was a call to action.

The Birth of Tines: Out of Necessity Comes Innovation

Together with his colleague Thomas Kinsella, who also had deep expertise from stints at eBay and DocuSign, they pondered a fundamental question: How could security teams respond more quickly and effectively? Overwhelmed by a constant deluge of alerts and a daunting array of devices to monitor, the burden on security teams had reached a tipping point.

Determined to find an answer, the duo set out to create Tines. Their vision was simple yet revolutionary: empower security teams by automating time-consuming, repetitive tasks, freeing up human talent for more critical problem-solving.

Bootstrap Beginning: Sacrifice Meets Success

Starting with sheer determination, Tines was built from the ground up. The founders took a bootstrap approach: Hinchy focused on coding and managing infrastructure, while Kinsella dedicated himself to customer onboarding and support. Rather than chasing early funding, they honed their product, a decision that set Tines apart during an era when many startups viewed fundraising as validation.

Their mantra? Make customers successful first, and growth will follow. This dedication paid off, as early adopters—particularly in fast-paced sectors like finance and healthcare—recognized the value in Tines’ promise of speed and precision.

Riding the Waves of Change: Growth During a Global Crisis

Then came 2020, and with it, the upheaval of a global pandemic. As remote work reshaped business, cybersecurity had to evolve. For Tines, this was an opportunity. Organizations scrambling to secure remote operations discovered Tines as a solution that didn’t just work—it thrived under pressure.

“Covid levelled the playing field for us in terms of sales,” Hinchy remarked in an Irish Times interview. Suddenly, customers were buying Tines for its performance, without even realizing its Irish roots. This led to a fivefold surge in revenue and a client roster featuring heavyweights like Coinbase, Canva, and Kayak.

A Threat to the Titans: Why Big Tech Keeps an Eye on Tines

The answer lies in Tines’ disruptive approach to automation. While traditional enterprise tools often required specialized coding skills and lengthy integration processes, Tines democratized automation by making it accessible to everyone.

This no-code approach fundamentally challenged the status quo, taking the power of automation out of the exclusive realm of software developers and IT experts and placing it into the hands of security analysts, HR professionals, and operations teams. Check out this demo to see how easy it is for yourself:

The ability to automate with such flexibility precision and scale has made Tines a formidable competitor to giants like ServiceNow and Splunk, which rely heavily on coding and can be more rigid.

Tines’ approach also puts it in a unique position to adapt quickly to emerging challenges. With cyber threats becoming more sophisticated, organizations need tools that are powerful and agile. The ease of building and modifying workflows in Tines allows companies to respond to new threats without waiting for updates or custom coding.

Transformative Client Stories: Real Wins, Real Impact

The financial and security sectors were among the earliest to adopt Tines, recognizing its potential to streamline complex processes and improve response times. With financial institutions facing 300% more cyberattacks than other businesses, automation became an essential tool for maintaining security and minimizing risk.

Take GitLab, for instance. Before Tines, its incident response team was mired in manual tasks, losing valuable time. After implementing Tines, GitLab recaptured over 1,000 hours annually and transformed its workflow. Team morale soared as automation lifted the burden of repetitive alerts, letting staff focus on strategic tasks.

📖 Read more: GitLab saves 1000s of hours and reduces the burden of alerts with Tines

Overcoming Challenges: Building a Culture of Resilience

While the company initially avoided pursuing major investments, its consistent success attracted prominent backers. By 2024, Tines had raised $146.2 million, securing a recent $50 million round led by Accel and Felicis. These funds have helped the company grow to over 250 employees, all while maintaining a culture rooted in trust, agility, and simplicity.

Tines embodies “soundness,” a nod to Irish values that prioritize empathy, reliability, and respect. This philosophy allows employees to take ownership and contribute meaningfully—a key factor in navigating the competitive tech landscape.

Peering Into the Future: The Next Chapter

So, what's next for Tines? The company aims to stay ahead of the curve by integrating more AI-driven features. They recently announced Workbench a new to help security teams to use large language models securely on proprietary data.

A major trend underscores the importance of Tines’ continued innovation: by the end of this year, it's projected there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity positions. This staggering gap highlights an urgent need for efficient, scalable solutions that can empower existing teams to handle increased workloads without burning out.

Tines’ no-code, user-friendly automation is perfectly positioned to help bridge this shortfall, allowing security professionals to focus on strategic tasks while repetitive processes are handled seamlessly.

Hinchy and Kinsella are genuinely leading a company at the forefront of global cybersecurity innovation that exemplifies resilience, vision, and the spirit of Irish entrepreneurship. As it expands capabilities and continues to redefine automation, even the biggest players in Big Tech will need to keep a close eye on what comes next from this Irish powerhouse.