ReFirm Labs, a provider of the industry's first proactive IoT and firmware security solutions, today announced the closing of a Pre-A round of $2 million in funding. The investment will be focused on accelerating new product development and expanding the company's sales and marketing operations. The round is led by cybersecurity venture studio DataTribe and accredited investment group New Dominion Angels, with participation from TEDCO and Tysons Angel Investors.
ReFirm Labs' flagship product, Centrifuge Platform®, is the first solution that proactively vets, validates and continuously monitors the security of firmware, a specific class of software that provides the low-level control for the hardware of an IoT device. With more than 14 billion IoT devices projected by Gartner to be in use in homes and businesses by 2020, the firmware in IoT devices is a commonly unprotected attack surface. ReFirm Labs' platform prevents attackers from exploiting flaws in firmware and gaining a foothold in the network to which the IoT device is connected.
"This new funding validates our proactive approach to IoT and firmware security and demonstrates how strongly it is resonating in the marketplace," said Derick Naef, CEO of Refirm Labs. "With 5G coming online soon – and with it billions more IoT devices – embedded threats and poor security in IoT devices will soon be reaching a critical mass. As our company continues to grow, we are committed to helping more and more companies and government agencies shore up the risks in their supply chain and ensure the optimal security of IoT devices deployed on their networks."
ReFirm Labs' Centrifuge Platform® can identify and report potential zero-day vulnerabilities, hidden crypto keys, backdoor passwords and already-known vulnerabilities in firmware in less than 30 minutes. Automated, cloud-based and highly-scalable, the Centrifuge Platform® significantly simplifies the management and monitoring of security across a system of deployed IoT devices without needing agents or access to a network. The platform is proven to increase productivity for security teams while reducing the number of breaches on internet-connected devices.
"The ReFirm Labs team has a unique perspective and clear vision for how to effectively address the security challenges presented by IoT devices deployed into corporate networks and critical infrastructure," said Tony Surak, Partner & CMO of DataTribe, the lead investor in ReFirm's latest funding round. "ReFirm Labs has ingeniously devised a simple and reliable way for monitoring security across an entire system of deployed IoT devices, and we're very excited to invest in their growth and continued product development."
Founded in 2017 by former National Security Agency cyber operators, ReFirm Labs leverages decades of experience offensively exploiting firmware. ReFirm Labs is trusted by Fortune 500 companies and government agencies that operate in a wide variety of industries including telecommunications, cloud infrastructure and data centers, automotive, health care, utilities and manufacturing.
ReFirm Labs was named 2018 Cybersecurity Startup of the Year by Info Security Products Guide and an Innovation Sandbox finalist at RSA 2018. The company is also recognized on CRN's 2019 Emerging Vendors List as a top provider for IoT/firmware security solutions.
Earlier this year, ReFirm Labs launched its global Certified Partner Program for managed security service providers and resellers. The company also recently announced a new strategic technology collaboration with Wind River®, a leader in delivering software for critical infrastructure. The new collaboration will accelerate the development and integration of Centrifuge Platform® with Wind River's VxWorks®, the most widely-deployed real-time operating system used in commercial aircraft, space exploration and military operations.
ReFirm Lab's newest funding round follows up an initial seed investment round of $1.5M in 2017, which was also led by DataTribe.
