Rain Capital’s Chenxi Wang On How Local Cyber Innovation Is Emerging Within A Global Shift

California-based early-stage cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI)-focused venture capital firm Rain Capital is paying close attention to how the Middle East’s cyber ecosystem is evolving, as regional priorities increasingly align with broader global shifts in technology and infrastructure. 

Speaking to Inc. Arabia on the sidelines of Black Hat MEA 2025, Chenxi Wang, founder and General Partner at Rain Capital, pointed to the conference itself as a reflection of how wide-ranging the cybersecurity conversation has become across the GCC and Africa. 

Wang framed the current moment as one shaped by overlapping forces that are redefining how cybersecurity is approached worldwide, particularly as emerging technologies begin to reshape long-standing systems and architectures. “Globally speaking, cybersecurity is at an interesting stage because we have AI as a new innovation, and that has disrupted a lot of traditional infrastructure, traditional systems that require a new approach for cybersecurity, so that’s one. Secondly, we have the bifurcation of localization. We have Europe is going to build their own tech stack separate from the US, China's going off on its own, and [in the] GCC, you're building your own AI data center, your cloud. So, we have a lot of local innovation opportunities as well as global views,” she said.

Beyond technology itself, Wang stressed that the evolution of cybersecurity is also changing who can participate in the field, challenging assumptions that it is limited to highly technical backgrounds. “You don't have to be a computer science major, you don't have to be a tech major to be in cybersecurity,” she said, highlighting the range of roles that extend beyond pure engineering. 

Watch the full video for more insights from Wang.

Pictured in the lead image is Rain Capital founder and General Partner Chenxi Wang.