NetFoundry gains USD $12 million funding for secure networking

NetFoundry has secured an investment of USD $12 million led by cybersecurity-focused venture capital firm SYN Ventures.

This funding marks the first venture capital injection for NetFoundry, which already services eight of the top ten banks in the United States as well as critical infrastructure across three continents.

NetFoundry says its approach to networking brings military-grade security while streamlining operations by moving away from reliance on traditional infrastructure and additional security layers, instead delivering security as software.

Galeal Zino, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NetFoundry, said: "This is the iPhone moment for secure networking. NetFoundry's approach is revolutionary in that it enables military-grade security, but with the speed and extensibility of software. Organizations can no longer tolerate the trade-offs of WAN/SASE/firewall architecture – that old model is shredded by an AI-accelerated world."

The company is currently serving two of the top five companies on the Fortune 500 list. NetFoundry's software has been adopted by solutions providers such as Arrow, Capgemini, CERM, Digibee, EdgeX Foundry, FreeWave, IBM, Intrusion, LVT, Marposs, Microsoft, Oracle, Ozone, Redfaire, TZ and the United States military.

NetFoundry's software-centric approach to secure networking allows it to be both used by enterprise IT departments and embedded in products from other providers. Some of the largest industrial and cloud service specialists now offer secure-by-design products using NetFoundry's zero trust networking embedded on an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) basis, similar to the widely recognised Intel-inside model.

Businesses that require robust security and quick deployment, notably in financial services, have become early adopters of what NetFoundry describes as a network-as-code model. The company states that the importance of secure, software-defined networking is increasing with the wider adoption of artificial intelligence across business sectors.

Josh Schertzer, most recently Chief Technology Officer of Enterprise Technology at Blackstone, said: "Finance firms benefited from being the infrastructure-as-code leaders, and are now taking the final step by completing the platform with network-as-code deployments. NetFoundry's reinvention of secure networking was the missing link – the way to complete the journey to an infrastructure independent, secure-by-design enterprise platform."

NetFoundry's technology supports a "develop once, deploy anywhere, deliver everywhere" model that allows teams to use distributed computing environments without needing to manage the details of network-level integration.

Dan Burns, Partner at SYN Ventures and former Chief Executive Officer of cybersecurity business Optiv, said: "Only software can keep up with software. Dependencies on infrastructure, IP addresses, underlay networks, specific clouds and firewall ACLs are barriers to business velocity, security and agility. By eliminating these barriers, NetFoundry enables enterprises to simplify, secure and accelerate digital transformation."

Public case studies referenced by NetFoundry include just-in-time zero trust networking applied to situations ranging from financial services and military drones, to industrial automation. Unlike Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) models that redirect and decrypt sensitive data, the company asserts its solution provides true end-to-end encryption with encryption keys kept solely on the endpoints, supporting both on-premises and cloud native installations.

NetFoundry's offerings are available as Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) and on-premises licensed software, allowing businesses to connect workflows across diverse networks in a secure manner. The company also provides its zero trust solution to partners to include in products as embedded software. NetFoundry is the creator and maintainer of OpenZiti, an open source zero trust software package widely used in the cybersecurity sector.

SYN Ventures is a venture capital firm dedicated to security investments, with a team comprising former Chief Information Security Officers, Chief Executive Officers, Chief Technology Officers and founders who together have more than 400 years' experience in security investment and operations, in addition to an established network of security advisors and CISOs.