Episode sponsors:

Seth Spergel is managing partner at Merlin Ventures, where he is responsible for identifying cutting-edge companies for Merlin to partner with and invest in. In this episode, Seth talks about helping startups target US federal markets, the current state of deal sizes and valuations, and the red-hot sectors in cybersecurity ripe for venture investment.

Links:

• Seth Spergel bio — Seth has more than 20 years of experience building, selling, and investing in software and startups. Prior to Merlin Ventures, Seth was VP for Infrastructure Technologies at In-Q-Tel, a strategic investment firm that invests in startups that meet the mission needs of government customers.
• Merlin Ventures portfolio
• Palo Alto buys Talon, Dig Security — Technology powerhouse Palo Alto Networks is officially on a billion-dollar shopping spree in the cloud data security space.
• Episode Sponsor: Binarly — The Binarly REsearch team leads the industry in firmware vulnerability disclosure and advisories