Technology innovation investor innogy Innovation Hub has led investment in ShieldIOT, an Internet of Things (IoT) cybersecurity specialist firm.
The innogy Innovation Hub, the venture capital and innovation acceleration division of German energy provider innogy SE, led the seed investment round in Israel-based ShieldIOT; which saw the IoT cybersecurity developer receive a total of $3.6m (€3.29m) in investment from the Innovation Hub and other investors, including Danmar Capital, Janvest Capital Partners and Minvest. The innogy Innovation Hub now counts more than 90 growing innovation and emerging technology companies in its investment portfolio.
Christof Kortz, Director of Strategic Cybersecurity Venturing at the innogy Innovation Hub, said: “The IoT is going to shape the future of many industries, with the energy system chief amongst them. The IoT enabled energy system will face new multi-layered and complex security challenges. In ShieldIOT, we have found a company with exciting technology that is designed to secure any IoT device in any topology at scale. We are impressed by the ShieldIOT team’s vision and the strong business traction they’ve generated with customers and partners across different IoT domains such as smart cities, connected buildings, connected transportation, and smart grid security,” Kortz said.
ShieldIOT was founded in 2017 and provides an end-to-end Artificial Intelligence-based IoT cybersecurity platform, enabling users to manage the security of multiple IoT devices and applications through a single medium.
Udi Solomon, co-founder and CEO of ShieldIOT, said: “The Internet of Things is a new chaotic sphere, characterised by countless different devices and applications, across various IoT networks and protocols. Many of these devices were not designed with security in mind, are cost-sensitive and lack the minimum resources required for performing security functions. Ultimately, all IoT devices connect to the network centre either directly, for example over cellular networks or indirectly via a dedicated gateway. ShieldIOT’s secures both channels while delivering up to 20 times reduction in false alarms and without the need for any network changes or costly hard-to-find security expertise.”
