PRESS RELEASE:
HOD HASHARON, Israel & DETROIT–(BUSINESS WIRE)–September 29, 2016–
Karamba Security, a company that develops industry-leading autonomous cybersecurity solutions for connected and autonomous vehicles, has secured an investment from Fontinalis Partners, a firm solely focused on investing in and scaling technology companies that are advancing next-generation mobility solutions. Fontinalis Partners led the $2.5 million round, with participation from existing investors YL Ventures and GlenRock.
“We’re delighted to have Fontinalis Partners as our newest investor,” said Ami Dotan, Karamba Security CEO and co-founder. “As a fund dedicated to next-generation mobility solutions, they’ve seen every cybersecurity solution out there. Their investment in Karamba Security is a testament that our solutions, including our newly announced Autonomous Security product suite, are best suited to meet the security demands of the industry.”
Unlike enterprise and mobile technologies, whose greatest cybersecurity risk is data loss, the risk from a hacked connected or autonomous car is much greater. Carwall, Karamba Security’s software, secures vehicles from cyberattacks by automatically locking down electronic control units (ECUs), according to factory settings. Carwall blocks operations outside of factory settings at the ECU level; hardening the car against hackers that try to compromise the ECU in order to take control of the car’s safety systems, such as brakes and airbags.
Five months after emerging from stealth and raising its first round of financing, Karamba Security has completed technology proofs of concept with several industry Tier-1 providers, and has been experiencing strong demand for its solutions from vehicle OEMs and Tier-1 providers.
“We’ve been following Karamba Security since its launch,” said Chris Thomas, a founder and partner at Fontinalis Partners, who will join Karamba’s board. “We were impressed to see how successful Karamba Security has been in engaging and creating demand for its products from Tier-1 system providers and vehicle manufacturers. Its approach is the ideal way to harden vehicles against cyberattacks, fulfilling the industry need for preventing hacking attempts with zero false positives and no developer intervention, and we believe there will be consistent demand across the automotive ecosystem for Karamba’s approach. In addition to the tremendous traction that Karamba has garnered to date, we are extremely excited about the many additional product announcements taking place over the course of the coming months that will serve to further illustrate Karamba’s ability to protect connected and autonomous vehicles from cyberattacks.”
About Karamba Security
Karamba Security provides industry-leading autonomous cybersecurity solutions for connected and autonomous vehicles. Karamba’s software products automatically harden the ECUs of connected and autonomous cars, preventing hackers from manipulating and compromising those ECUs and hacking into the car. Karamba’s Autonomous Security prevents cyberattacks with zero false positives, no connectivity requirements and negligible performance impact. More information is available at www.karambasecurity.com.
About Fontinalis Partners
Fontinalis Partners, with offices in Detroit and Boston, is a venture capital firm strategically focused on next-generation mobility solutions. The firm was founded in 2009 by Bill Ford, Ralph Booth, Chris Cheever, Chris Thomas and Mark Schulz. Fontinalis invests across all facets of the world’s mobility systems on a stage- and size-agnostic basis. Fontinalis is not affiliated with Ford Motor Company. More information is available at www.fontinalis.com.
About YL Ventures
YL Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in cybersecurity, drone technologies, cloud computing, big data and Software-as-a-Service software companies, with particular focus on the Israeli market. Currently investing out of its $27.5 million second fund, YL Ventures accelerates the evolution of portfolio companies via strategic advice and Silicon Valley-based operational execution. More information is available at www.ylventures.com.
About GlenRock
GlenRock is an Israeli venture capital firm with an investment strategy that encompasses three main areas of activity – life sciences, advanced technology and private equity. The firm is dedicated to commercially harnessing Israeli technology, as decades of technology experience have given GlenRock unmatchable access to the Israel defense establishment, universities and research institutions. With a unique global reach and presence, GlenRock is well-positioned to assist portfolio companies open the right doors in international markets. More information is available at www.grg.co.il.
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Montner Tech PR
Deb Montner, +1-203-226-9290 x110
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