Investments and insights.
$351M RAISED | 7 DEALS | 5 COUNTRIES
- Exein has secured $270 million in an oversubscribed funding round led by Headline.
- AIUC (Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company) has raised $40 million in a Series A round led by Ribbit Capital.
- Hackuity has raised $19 million in funding led by Forgepoint Capital International.
- ZeroRisk has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by MiddleGame Ventures.
- HelmGuard has raised $7.3 million in seed funding co-led by Infinity Ventures and Frontline.
- Bynario has raised €2.1 million (US$2.4 million) led by 360 Capital.
- LeoTrace has raised £1.45 million (US$2 million) in pre-seed funding co-led by Twin Path Ventures and Outward VC.
Exein, an Italian company that provides cybersecurity for machinery and vehicles that use AI, has secured $270 million in an oversubscribed funding round led by Headline, with participation from Sofina, Goldman Sachs, EIB Group, KfW Capital, T.Capital, and existing investors Balderton, HV, Intrepid Growth Partners, 33N Ventures, Lakestar, Supernova Invest, Blue Cloud Ventures, and Geodesic Capital. The funding brings the company’s valuation to $1.7 billion. Exein says the funding will fuel its US and APAC expansion.
San Francisco-based AI safety company AIUC (Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company) has raised $40 million in a Series A round led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from First Harmonic and Terrain. The company says the funding “will help extend our audits, standards, and insurance from agents to frontier models to create a strong ecosystem for frontier oversight.”
French vulnerability management company Hackuity has raised $19 million in funding led by Forgepoint Capital International, with participation from Bright Pixel Capital, Bpifrance, and Seventure Partners. The company says the funding “will accelerate product development, expand our AI capabilities, and support international growth.”
Irish merchant cybersecurity platform ZeroRisk has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by MiddleGame Ventures, with participation from existing investor Elkstone. The company says the funding “will support ZeroRisk's expansion globally, further product development and the operational capacity needed to deploy the platform across large merchant portfolios.”
UK-based agentic AI governance, risk, and compliance platform provider HelmGuard has raised $7.3 million in seed funding co-led by Infinity Ventures and Frontline, with participation from FinTech Collective, Stage 2 Capital, and Entrepreneurs First. The company says the investment “will support continued expansion in the US market, including a New York and San Francisco presence alongside HelmGuard's London headquarters, hiring across engineering and go-to-market, and accelerated development of an agent assurance layer that evaluates AI agent behavior at runtime.”
Italian AI-assisted vulnerability detection platform Bynario has raised €2.1 million (US$2.4 million) led by 360 Capital, with participation from PranaVentures. The company says the funding “will help us accelerate development of our AI-powered platform, grow our engineering team, and bring our technology to more organisations.”
London-based AI-written code security startup LeoTrace has raised £1.45 million (US$2 million) in pre-seed funding co-led by Twin Path Ventures and Outward VC, with participation from Golden Egg Check and angel investors.
Mergers and acquisitions.
5 DEALS | 6 COUNTRIES
- Scottish MSSP Quorum Cyber has agreed to acquire Swiss agentic SOC provider Ontinue.
- SecureSky has acquired London-based data security posture management company Soveren.
- Surfshark has acquired San Francisco-headquartered online personal information removal service Optery.
- Kiteworks has acquired Mountain View-based AI data security platform Bonfy.ai.
- InfraVia has acquired a majority stake in German identity governance software vendor Nexis.
Scottish MSSP Quorum Cyber has agreed to acquire Swiss agentic SOC provider Ontinue. The company says the acquisition “would unite two Microsoft-focused companies with complementary strengths in managed detection and response, proactive risk reduction, incident response, professional services and AI-first security operations.” The transaction will also “extend the organizations' reach across North America, the UK and the DACH region, strengthening support for customers operating across borders and navigating regional regulatory, compliance, and data-governance requirements.”
Nebraska-based exposure management and MDR provider SecureSky has acquired London-based data security posture management company Soveren. The company says the “acquisition extends SecureSky's patented platform to include real-time, ML-based sensitive data discovery, classification, and protection across cloud-native and on-premises environments.”
Amsterdam-based VPN and consumer cybersecurity company Surfshark has acquired San Francisco-headquartered online personal information removal service Optery. Surfshark stated, “This acquisition strengthens our cybersecurity ecosystem by bringing Optery alongside Incogni and Ironwall as an independent service, giving you more control over your digital footprint…Optery’s deep US market expertise, combined with Incogni’s global reach, means better protection against the companies profiting from your privacy.”
San Mateo, California-based data governance company Kiteworks has acquired Mountain View-based AI data security platform Bonfy.ai. Kiteworks stated, “Delivered inside the Kiteworks control plane for secure data exchange, the combined capability governs data in motion and in use through a single policy model that applies equally to people, machines, and systems across any system in the enterprise. Kiteworks will continue to offer Bonfy.AI to customers as a separate solution while it is integrated into the Kiteworks platform.”
French private equity firm InfraVia has acquired a majority stake in German identity governance software vendor Nexis. InfraVia stated, “This transaction will see InfraVia acquire a majority stake in the Company with an aim to accelerate commercial development internationally, outside of the Company’s existing DACH stronghold.”
Executive moves.
SecurityScorecard has named Sarah Walker as President. Walker most recently served as Chief Operating Officer of Slack.
Tannaz Haddadi has been named Deputy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the Federal Reserve Board.
Zero Networks has appointed Yossi Dagan as Chief Financial Officer. Dagan most recently served as CFO of Air Doctor.
Abstract has named Jonathan Eller as its first Chief Revenue Officer. Eller most recently led global sales at Concentric AI.
Daylight Security has hired Elinor Cohen as Chief Business Officer. Cohen most recently served as VP of Strategic Alliances at Avalor Security.
Elevate has appointed Karl Kispert as Chief Growth Officer. Kispert previously served as VP of Cybersecurity Strategy & Advisory at Hexaware Technologies.
Arcova (formerly MorganFranklin Cyber) has promoted Zubaid Kazmi to Chief Client Officer.
Blue Mantis has named Jay Pasteris as Chief Services Officer.
General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) has appointed retired Maj. Gen. Ryan P. Heritage as Vice President, Full-Spectrum Cyber. Heritage most recently served as Director of Operations at U.S. Cyber Command.
DNSFilter has named Kasey Best as Vice President of Threat Research.
Semperis has hired Michael Scheffler as Area Vice President of Sales DACH. Scheffler most recently served as VP of Sales at Link11.
NewCore has added Joy Chik to its board of directors. Chik most recently served as President of the Identity and Network Access Business at Microsoft.