The founders guide to accelerating growth with compliance in ANZ

For founders of early-stage startups in Australia and New Zealand, growth is the ultimate goal. You’re focused on building an exceptional product, winning customers, and scaling fast. But one thing that should also be on your radar is security compliance.

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The reality is, compliance isn’t just about meeting legal requirements or ticking a box when an enterprise customer asks for certifications. It’s a strategic advantage. Proactively investing in security compliance can help ANZ startups unlock bigger deals, attract investors, and build trust with customers—long before compliance becomes mandatory.

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If you’re not sure where to start, this guide is for you. We’ll walk you through key compliance frameworks, help you determine the best fit for your business, and share a real success story from a startup that accelerated growth with compliance. 

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Which framework is right for your ANZ startup

Even if you haven’t been asked about compliance yet, you’ve likely heard of ISO 27001, SOC 2, or other security and privacy standards. While all of these frameworks help startups establish strong security practices and build customer trust, they cater to different markets and needs.

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For startups operating in Australia and New Zealand, ISO 27001 is often the preferred standard as it aligns with global best practices and ANZ regulatory expectations. If you plan to expand into North America, SOC 2 may also be worth considering, as it is widely recognised by US companies.

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Beyond these global frameworks, Australia’s Essential Eight and CPS 234 (APRA’s cybersecurity standard) are also important for startups working in regulated industries such as financial services or government.  Ultimately, your customers, industry, and growth plans will help determine which framework to pursue first.

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ISO 27001

ISO 27001 is an internationally recognised standard designed to help organisations protect their information by implementing an Information Security Management System (ISMS). Developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), it provides a structured framework for managing security risks across people, processes, and technology—ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of critical data.

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ISO 27001 is widely accepted across Australia, New Zealand, and globally, making it an essential certification for businesses looking to establish trust with customers, partners, and investors. Certification is issued by an accredited external auditor, and working with a recognised ISO 27001 certification body is essential to ensure compliance with the standard.

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ISO 27001 is right for your startup if:

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• You are targeting global markets: Many customers, especially in Australia, Asia, and Europe require vendors to have ISO 27001 certification before doing business with them.
• You handle sensitive customer or business data: If your startup processes, stores, or transmits sensitive information—such as personally identifiable information (PII), financial data, or intellectual property—ISO 27001 helps demonstrate that you have the right security controls in place.
• You want a strong security posture to differentiate from competitors: ISO 27001 certification signals to prospects and customers that you take information security seriously, which can give you an advantage over competitors that lack formal security credentials.
  
  

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SOC 2

SOC 2, or System and Organization Controls 2, is a widely recognised cybersecurity framework developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). It helps businesses demonstrate how they manage and protect customer data, based on five Trust Services Criteria: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.

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For startups in Australia and New Zealand, SOC 2 can be a powerful tool—especially if you’re targeting the US market or working with mid-market and enterprise customers. A SOC 2 report gives your company a credible, third-party validated way to show that your systems are secure, your operations are reliable, and your business can be trusted.

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SOC 2 is right for your startup if:

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• You’re a B2B company: Many companies, particularly in North America, require SOC 2 before they’ll sign a contract—it helps you navigate security reviews faster and close deals with less friction.
• You handle sensitive customer data: Whether it’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII), financial information, or business-critical data, SOC 2 demonstrates that you’ve put the right safeguards in place to protect it, according to the five Trust Services criteria.
• You want to signal trust and operational maturity: Earning a SOC 2 demonstrates to prospects, investors, and partners that you take security seriously and have undergone an independent third-party review of your controls. It’s a competitive advantage, especially as you scale.
  
  

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Essential Eight

Sponsored by the Australian Cyber Security Centre, Essential Eight is a framework that provides organisations with a baseline strategy to protect against cyber attacks. It is designed to mitigate threats to domestic systems and reduce the impact of cyber attacks. Based on the most common tactics, techniques, and procedures used by attackers, Essential Eight is commonly found in and asked for by prospective customers in Australia.

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Unlike ISO 27001, Essential Eight focuses on practical threat management and attack blast radius reduction, rather than the state of your overall security program. This helps you harden your environment to impose a technical cost on would-be attackers. In other words, the more difficult it is for an attacker to exploit, the less likely they are to hit it. It does, however, provide an excellent foundation for coming into an ISO 27001 assessment with a strong security posture.

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Essential Eight is right for your startup if:

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• You’re selling to Australian government or public sector customers: Essential Eight is frequently cited as a requirement for vendors engaging with federal, state, or local government agencies, making it a critical framework for startups working in govtech or adjacent sectors.
• You need a lightweight, practical approach to security early on: Essential Eight is a tactical, implementation-driven framework that can help younger startups build muscle around cyber hygiene without needing the full structure of ISO 27001.
• You want to strengthen your defenses before pursuing certification frameworks: If you’re preparing for ISO 27001 or SOC 2 in the future, Essential Eight offers a grounded way to reduce risk and prove you’ve already taken steps to secure your systems.

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CPS 234

CPS 234 is a cybersecurity regulation issued by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), designed to ensure that financial institutions implement robust information security measures. It applies to banks, investment firms, insurance companies, and other APRA-regulated entities operating in Australia and the broader APAC region.

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The standard requires organisations to demonstrate strong cybersecurity practices, including risk management, incident response, and third-party security oversight. Non-compliance can result in significant fines, operational restrictions, or even direct legal consequences for senior executives.

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CPS 234 is right for your startup if:

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• You are providing services to APRA-regulated entities: If your startup is part of the supply chain for banks, insurers, or other financial institutions, those customers may require you to demonstrate CPS 234 alignment to maintain or win contracts.
• You operate in the fintech, insurtech, or regtech space: Startups working with regulated financial data or infrastructure need to align with CPS 234 to meet customer expectations and avoid regulatory scrutiny.
• You want to establish early credibility in a heavily regulated sector: Demonstrating compliance with CPS 234—even if not legally required—can help differentiate your startup with security-conscious financial partners and show you’re ready to scale in a regulated market.

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CipherStash accelerates compliance and strengthens customer trust with Vanta

CipherStash helps businesses keep their sensitive data protected, with pioneering encryption-in-use technology. By ensuring data remains encrypted even while it’s being accessed, CipherStash provides complete confidentiality without compromising usability.

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Offering seamless integration into a wide range of databases—including PostgreSQL and DynamoDB—CipherStash enables organisations to maintain strict security controls while keeping data searchable and accessible.

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While CipherStash’s innovative approach to securing sensitive information sets them apart in the data security industry, proving their security posture to customers is a key challenge that requires a robust compliance strategy. Ensuring ongoing compliance meant dealing with extensive manual processes—tracking security controls across multiple systems, managing spreadsheets, and manually preparing for audits. 

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CipherStash needed a solution that would streamline their compliance processes, reduce overheads, and allow their team to focus on what they do best: building cutting-edge security solutions for clients.

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CipherStash selected Vanta to automate and simplify its security compliance journey, with a focus on achieving and maintaining key security standards such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001. More than just an automated compliance tool, Vanta has become an integral part of CipherStash’s security program, enabling the organisation to continuously prove its commitment to security excellence.

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With Vanta, CipherStash has significantly reduced the manual burden of managing security compliance. Their team can now concentrate on building and delivering their product without being held back by time-consuming compliance tasks.

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Achieving and maintaining compliance with security standards such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001 has opened new opportunities for CipherStash, as security-conscious customers now have clear visibility into their compliance status.

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Turn trust in competitive advantage with Vanta

Ready to build trust, close bigger deals, and scale faster? Find out how ANZ’s fastest-growing companies automate compliance with Vanta. 

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