Industrial cyber security startup Nozomi Networks raises $100 million

By Jane Lanhee Lee

(Reuters) - Nozomi Networks, a San Francisco-based industrial cyber security startup, said on Monday it raised $100 million from its customers and technology partners to help build new products and expand sales.

Cyber security startups have been getting big investments in the past year with a sharp rise in high-profile cyber attacks.

Nozomi Networks specializes in protecting critical infrastructure such as oil, gas, and water, as well as manufacturing facilities, said Chief Executive Officer Edgard Capdevielle.

Its software monitors machines, including valves and pipelines, to see if there are any anomalies and then alerts companies about where urgent fixes are needed to protect the facilities from hackers, said Capdevielle.

The software also tracks down the different machines and devices that are connected to the internet to monitor them, he said.

“The number of attacks has more than doubled year on year,” based on what his company is seeing in the industrial cyber security field, Capdevielle said. “We've gone from having a malicious insider here and there, somebody that didn't like how he or she got fired, to now these ransomware folks that want to shut you down.”

He declined to say how much the company was valued at in the latest round of funding. Investors include Honeywell Ventures, an investment arm of Honeywell International Inc, as well as In-Q-Tel, the venture capital fund backed by the CIA.

(Reporting by Jane Lanhee Lee; Editing by Chris Reese)