Opscura, an industrial control systems (ICS) cybersecurity company, closed an €8.7 million Series A round led by Anzu Partners, with participation from Dreamit Ventures and Mundi Ventures.
Founded in San Sebastian in 2011 by the name of Enigmedia, the startup claims to protect and connect industrial networks with easy-to-use innovations that are safe to use within operational infrastructure. Opscura will leverage the new funding to further expand across the United States.
For Gerard Vidal, CTO and co-founder of the company, “Opscura’s technology provides a unique solution to the industrial cybersecurity ecosystem, where manufacturers, such as those in the renewable energy sector, require greater efficiency to protect thousands of old and vulnerable devices that cannot be disconnected, while new infrastructure continues to be built.”
To reduce the risk of ransomware, operational interruption, or unauthorized access, Opscura’s patented technology divides and protects operational processes’ communications without interrupting the continuity of its activity. This allows the company to extend the lifespan of industrial systems from a security standpoint and reduce operational risks.
Vidal expressed that their solutions “can be applied to protect water plants and power plants, as well as to any installation with an industrial process such as renewable energy, transportation, manufacturing and chemical handling.
Global validation by international partners
With big brand names as partners like Schneider Electric and Telefonica, the Basque company was able to attract significant funding to continue protecting vulnerable legacy industrial assets and data, eliminating deep-level attacker footholds, and enriching threat visibility data.
“Throughout our extensive diligence process, we were impressed with Opscura’s foundational approach to ICS and their ability to deliver a frictionless solution that ensures continuity of operations. We believe it has great potential to efficiently and effectively address the myriad unmet security needs that exist in critical brownfield OT networks,” said John Ho, Partner at Anzu Partners. “We look forward to supporting the Opscura team as they continue to scale the company, validate the technology’s capabilities across multiple ICS use cases, and demonstrate how to fully deliver the zero trust model in an OT context.”
With the aim to grow across the United States, the company underwent structural changes in its management team, which will now see co-founders Gerard Vidal and Carlos Tomás taking on the Chief Technology Officer and VP Engineering roles, respectively, and David Hatchell leading a new global management team as Chief Executive Officer.
“It’s time to take on the most pressing national cybersecurity problems and move the entire ICS ecosystem forward,” expressed Hatchell. “Together with our partners and talented technical teams, Opscura can help customers move beyond device visibility to protect our critical industrial assets and data.”
“The mission to reduce risk for industrial operators has no geographical boundaries, and we are excited to see Opscura’s Spanish and U.S. technical talent collaborate to solve ICS security challenges,” said Rajeev Singh-Molares, Founding & Managing Partner at Mundi Ventures. “Opscura solves the immediate concern of protecting vulnerable industrial assets such as PLCs, and it has novel IP that can prepare companies as quantum progresses and data security compliance needs evolve.”
“Opscura is much needed in the ICS security ecosystem, with its focus on protecting and connecting at deeper levels of the network,” added Mel Shakir, Partner at Dreamit Ventures, Securetech. “Their collaborative approach across OT, IT, and automation partners will expedite market traction.”
Obscura has raised nearly €13,2 million since its inception.
