NEW YORK, June 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Claroty, the leader in cybersecurity for industrial control networks, today announced that a prominent syndicate of investors, including industrial operators and control system vendors, invested $60 million in Series B funding, bringing the company’s total investment to date to $93 million. The round was led by Temasek and included Rockwell Automation, Aster Capital (Sponsored by Schneider Electric), Next47 (Siemens-backed global venture firm), Envision Ventures, and Tekfen Ventures. Original Claroty investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Team8, Innovation Endeavors, and ICV all participated in the round.
Founded in 2014 and exiting stealth mode in late 2016, this investment comes on the heels of a breakout year for Claroty capped by a 300% year-over-year growth in bookings and customer base. Claroty now has large-scale customers with production installations across six continents in nine market segments, including electric utilities, oil and gas, chemical, water, manufacturing, food and beverage, mining, and real estate (building management systems, data centers, warehouses).
“Our unparalleled investor syndicate, which includes some of the most important industrial companies in the world, is a ringing endorsement of Claroty’s technology and the progress our team has made,” said Amir Zilberstein, Claroty Co-founder and CEO. “Our mission is to protect the most critical networks on the planet and our comprehensive platform provides our customers with the capabilities they need to accomplish this vitally important task.”
This rapidly expanding cybersecurity market segment is the result of a “perfect storm” that has placed industrial networks running critical global infrastructures in the spotlight. Old and insecure industrial control networks, which used to be “air-gapped,” are now being rapidly connected to networks and exposed to a range of risks. Because of their criticality, these networks are increasingly targeted by advanced nation-state adversaries who are determined to harvest information and gain a persistent presence for potential future attacks. In 2017, industrial networks also became collateral damage in ransomware attacks like WannaCry and NotPetya costing companies billions in losses.
“A perimeter defense to cybersecurity in today’s connected world is not enough. An end-to-end approach, with solutions that provide deep visibility into operational technology and industrial control systems, is critical for the security of heavy processing environments,” said Hervé Coureil, Chief Digital Officer at Schneider Electric. “Leading the digital transformation of energy management and automation, Schneider Electric takes cybersecurity very seriously and the partnership with Claroty complements the cybersecurity layer of our IoT-enabled EcoStruxure™ architecture.”
“Protecting the critical automation systems our customers operate against cyberattacks remains a top priority for the company,” said Frank Kulaszewicz, SVP, Architecture & Software at Rockwell Automation. “Claroty has been a partner since 2016 and their advanced technology is a key element of our real-time threat detection and monitoring service. Our investment in Claroty is a logical extension of our ongoing strategic partnership.”
Claroty’s comprehensive cybersecurity platform provides extreme visibility into industrial networks and combines secure remote access with continuous monitoring for threats and vulnerabilities – enabling industrial control system operators to protect these important networks. The company will use investment proceeds to grow the Claroty brand globally, extend its sales and customer support footprint, and continue its rapid pace of product innovation.
Additional new Claroty investor quotes include:
T.J. Rylander, Partner at Next47, the Siemens-backed global venture firm
“The recent increase in scale, scope, and frequency of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure has led to an uptick in demand for new solutions from companies around the world. Claroty has the team, technology, and market traction to deliver the kind of lasting impact that we are looking for at Next47.”
Kris Kemeny, Managing Director at Tekfen Ventures
“We invest in category-leading companies that, like Claroty, solve the most important challenges in heavy industry using pioneering technology. As an industrial leader in Turkey, Tekfen holds itself to the highest standards on its global projects. With Claroty, we saw that same commitment to excellence in both the team’s vision and architecture of the solution, that will help ensure the integrity of networks that power global industries.”
Daniel Ahn, Managing Partner at Envision Ventures
“We are very pleased to partner with Claroty, which is the clear category-leading cybersecurity company in the industrial controls space.”
About Claroty
Headquartered in New York and launched as the second startup from the famed Team8 foundry, Claroty combines elite management and research teams with deep technical expertise from both IT and OT disciplines. The company is backed by an unrivaled syndicate of investors and partners, including some of the most important industrial control automation companies and asset owners on earth. With an unmatched understanding of ICS, SCADA, and other essential OT/IIoT systems, Claroty built a fully integrated cybersecurity platform. Our award-winning suite of products provides extreme visibility into industrial networks – enabling unparalleled cyberthreat protection, detection, and response. For more information, visit www.claroty.com.
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Contact:
Doug De Orchis
CHEN PR for Claroty
781-672-3147
ddeorchis@chenpr.com