IoT security startup Nozomi Networks closes $100M funding round

SECURITY

Nozomi Networks Inc., a startup that helps companies secure their factory robots and other connected devices, has raised $100 million in a late-stage funding.

The software maker announced the Series E round today. It raised the capital from an investor consortium that included Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Schneider Electric SE, two major manufacturers of industrial equipment. The round brings Nozomi’s total outside funding to more than $260 million.

The company disclosed on occasion of the investment that the annual recurring revenue generated by its flagship product, a cloud platform called Vantage, has grown fivefold since 2021. Nozomi Networks says it now helps protect more than 105 million devices worldwide. Those devices range from robotic arms deployed in factories to elevators and cranes.

“This investment clearly underscores the need and support for OEM-agnostic security solutions in light of today’s escalating attacks against critical infrastructure around the world,” said Nozomi Chief Executive Officer Edgard Capdevielle.

The company’s Vantage platform, which debuted in 2021, can automatically map out all the connected devices used by an organization and scan them for vulnerabilities. The platform could, for example, identify if a system runs an outdated version of Linux with a known security flaw. Vantage ranks the vulnerabilities it finds based on the associated breach risk to help administrators tackle the most pressing issues first.

The platform collects information about security issues from three main sources. The first is an agent, or lightweight program, called Arc that companies can install directly on connected devices to gather vulnerability data. It’s complemented by Guardian, a tool that monitors the data traffic in an organization’s network for signs of malicious activity.

A third source from which Vantage collects security data is a sensor called Guardian Air. Introduced this past January, it can detect when a hacker attempts to access a device via a wireless connection. Guardian Air monitors the parts of the radio spectrum that are used by wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to transfer data.

Besides aggregating data about vulnerabilities and breach attempts, Vantage also visualizes the information in dashboards to ease analysis. A built-in query engine enables administrators to retrieve more detailed data about specific items of interest. When the platform spots a potential security issue, it can generate remediation suggestions to speed up the troubleshooting process. 

Nozomi will use the proceeds from its latest funding round to build more features for Vantage. The startup also plans to invest a part of the capital in go-to-market initiatives. 

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