Karma Ventures, First Fellow Partners and Specialist VC Lead Display of Confidence in CybExer’s Cyber Range Technology by Investing in Operational Scale-Up.
CybExer Technologies, a NATO-awarded cyber range company with global customers spanning international defence organisations, financial institutions, and critical infrastructure enterprises, has today announced a €5m funding round to meet market demand and expand its global operations in the face of a global cyber security skills gap and the explosive growth in increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks.
CybExer Technologies has developed a highly scaleable cyber range platform that supports both cloud and on-premise demands. The platorm delivers NIST/NICE-compliant testing and evaluation, as well as seamless integration of highly complex industry-specific core business applications such as directory services, international transfers and payments, 5G, OT/SCADA, and mission critical systems in aerospace and defence. CybExer’s growing roster of clients includes some of the most demanding defence and commercial organisations around the world.
The investment round was led by Karma Ventures who are joined by First Fellow Partners, Specialist VC and select angel investors with deep cyber security industry experience. “We see cyber security as a fast-growing field, and are excited partner with a global deep-tech company that brings onto the world stage an innovation which makes tackling growing cyber threat easier. We are very impressed by the current first-rate client portfolio and overall strong performance of CybExer in the dynamic and rapidly evolving cyber range market. The company has already proven itself as a best-in-class cyber range solutions provider for top-tier customers. With this additional investment, we want to increase its market share and help make this cutting-edge technology accessible to a wider customer base globally,” said Margus Uudam, Founding Partner of Karma Ventures.
Andrus Kivisaar, CybExer CEO, says: “We believe that our technology clearly meets the current market demand. With such features as on-demand library, operational technology, and visualisation tools, our platform is very well positioned to respond to customer needs. Now, we are excited to bring on board a group of investors whose expertise in cyber security and operational scale-up will be an enormous catalyst for growth.”
The first investment round is also joined by First Fellow Partners, a fund led by Risto Siilasmaa, the former Chairman of Nokia, Founder of F-Secure. According to Siilasmaa, “there is no question that cyber range technology will play an important role in building cyber resilience globally and we want to be there when it happens. We have been very impressed by both the team and the technology. We believe that CybExer’s goals in further developing its solution and increasing its market share are realistic and achievable.”
CybExer currently estimates the cyber range market to be above EUR 5bn annually and expanding as confirmed by the increasing customer interest. “We see new customers from banking, insurance, telcos, municipalities and academia,” explains Kivisaar. “One of the unique features that helps to meet this growing demand is our ability to provide the platform as an on-prem, through the cloud or as a hybrid solution. Our approach to customer experience ensures that the tools on the range are those used in everyday operations and that the environments meet each client’s actual requirements from the word go.”
The funding round is also joined by Specialist VC, an early investor in the newest Estonian unicorn Veriff, and with stakes in Bolt, Monese, Starship and other tech companies. Its Founding Partner Gerri Kodres says: “With its very experienced and ambitious founding team and already established partnerships, CybExer is well placed to aim for the leading position in the rapidly growing market for cyber ranges. We are very much looking forward to contributing to getting the product out to more customers and helping CybExer grow and maintain its glogal leadership in cyber range technology.”
CybExer is planning to significantly bolster its team in development, customer success and sales organization. The company will also expand its global presence.
ABOUT THE INVESTORS:
About Karma Ventures:
Karma Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on investing in European early stage startups that develop unique technologies and demonstrate proven customer traction. It has completed 16 investments since the launch of its first fund in 2016 and the team’s track record includes taking more than 20 companies to successful exits. Karma Ventures’ second fund is backed among others by Baltic Innovation Fund 2 (BIF 2) – an initiative created by cooperation between the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania and European Investment Fund.
About First Fellow Partners:
First Fellow Partners is a private investment firm run by Risto Siilasmaa and Kim Groop. Grounded in a deeply held set of values around entrepreneurship, trust, integrity and helping solve the world’s problems. First Fellow Partners, headquartered in Helsinki, partners with strong and ambitious technology entrepreneurs driven by a mission to fix or build something important in the world. In November 2021 First Fellow Partners made a successful exit from Finnish-based delivery start-up Wolt. Some of the fund’s other investments include Aiven, Small Giant Games and AlphaSense.
About Specialist VC:
Specialist VC (formerly United Angels VC) is a venture capital fund for Baltics and beyond, currently investing from its second €50m fund. The fund focuses on pre-seed and seed rounds in B2B, SaaS, fintech, platforms, software-enabled hardware, Web3, and deep tech verticals, and differentiates by dual strategy of integrating post A-round secondary transactions into a traditional venture capital fund. Specialist VC is among the top tech investors in the region, with the combined portfolio of its founders and its first fund reaching 45 investments, and including outstanding companies such as Bolt, Veriff, Starship, COMODULE, Monese, NFTPort and others. Specialist VC’s experience and network allows it to provide tailored assistance in strategy, business development technology, finance and other key areas.
About Petri Kuivala:
Petri Kuivala is an experienced international security leader who currently works as the Vice President of General IT and User Experience at NXP Semiconductors NV, a world leading provider of security and automotive semiconductor solutions, focusing on reliability and security. Prior to this he was the Chief Information Security Officer at NXP Semiconductors NV. Previously, he has held positions as Chairman for SSH Communications Security Oy, Chief Information Security Officer for Nokia Oy and Member-Global Security at Microsoft Oy.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/petrikuivala/
Additional information:
Veiko Lukmann
Head of Communications
CybExer Technologies
Tel: +372 5237343
Web: https://cybexer.com/
