Early-stage cybersecurity startups exit stealth mode. Low maintenance tech propel ShieldIOT and Zenity to finalize initial seeding. XM Cyber realizes respectable exit with the sale of a majority stake. BlueVoyant announces strategic partnership with Bytes Technology Group. DNV merges with Applied Risk to form world’s largest industrial cyber security practice.
Funding
ShieldIOT, an Internet of Things (IoT) cybersecurity software company, announces it raised $3.6 million in seed funding round. The round was led by innogy Innovation Hub, the accelerator and venture capital arm of innogy SE, a German energy company. The round was joined by new and existing investors including Janvest Capital Partners, Danmar Capital, Minvest and private investors.
Zenity exits stealth mode with seed funding influx of $5 million. The round was led by Vertex Ventures and UpWest. A number of angel investors, including the former CISO of Google, Gerhard Eschelbeck, and the former CIO of SuccessFactors, Tom Fisher, also participated in this round. The Zenity platform focuses on building a catalog of low-code/no-code apps and allows the set up of a governance policy for organizations which can be automatically enforced.
Resilience closes Series C at $80 million, co-led by General Catalyst and Corey Thomas of Rapid7 with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Founders Fund, Charles River Ventures, Shield Capital and Intact Ventures. The investment comes as Resilience executes on plans for middle market expansion and international growth.
Stellar Cyber raises $38 million in oversubscribed Series B round led by Highland Capital Partners, with full participation from existing investors including Valley Capital Partners, SIG and Northern Light Venture Capital, and new strategic investor Samsung. Stellar Cyber’s Open XDR platform works with customers’ existing EDR, SIEM, UEBA, NDR and other solutions to preserve investments and utilize specific expertise in a certain portion of the attack surface or kill chain.
BitLyft Cybersecurity announces close of seed round of funding. This $1 million infusion will further the company’s efforts to deliver automated cybersecurity solutions to small and midsize organizations. BitLyft intends to leverage these funds to develop its AIR platform to become accessible to a market demanding a strong security posture for customers and stakeholders.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
European retailer Schwarz Group will acquire a majority stake in XM Cyber at a sales price of $700 million. XM Cyber will continue to operate independently, offering products under its current brand and support structure.
Assurance and risk management provider DNV will acquire industrial cyber security specialist Applied Risk. The two companies will merge to build the world’s largest industrial cyber security practice with a focus to support critical infrastructure against emergent cyber threats. Applied Risk and DNV will operate under the DNV brand with a combined leadership team looking to scale the merged cyber security business.
BlueVoyant announces partnership with Bytes Technology Group Plc; a software, security, and cloud specialist. The strategic partnership will allow BlueVoyant access to Bytes’ roster of enterprise and public sector clients, and expand its market for third-party cyber risk solutions as part of Bytes’ cybersecurity practice.
Cipherpoint completes its acquisition of Virtual Information Technology Pty Limited. VIT Cyber Security provides managed IT and security solutions to government agencies and enterprise businesses. The sale is on commercial terms previously outlined in Cipherpoint’s release on 13 October 2021.
OpenText acquires Bricata at undisclosed terms. The acquisition of Bricata provides OpenText with Network Detection & Response (NDR) technology that analyzes network traffic for vulnerabilities and threats. The addition of the Bricata team provides additional engineering capital to further the development of its future products in the growing NDR market.
Read more cybersecurity M&A and funding updates from SecureDisruptions here.
