Soverli raises USD $2.6m for sovereign smartphone OS

Swiss cybersecurity start-up Soverli has raised USD $2.6 million in pre-seed funding to develop a sovereign software layer for commercial smartphones that runs independently of Android and iOS.

The Zurich-based company emerged from research at ETH Zurich. Its software sits alongside existing mobile operating systems and does not require changes to phone hardware.

The funding round was led by Swiss pre-seed investor Founderful. The ETH Zurich Foundation, Venture Kick and several individual cybersecurity specialists also invested.

Soverli describes its approach as a new smartphone architecture. The software allows several operating systems to run in isolation on a single device.

The company has filed patents for the methodology. The research and development work took more than four years.

Soverli positions its technology as a response to rising concern about digital sovereignty. Governments and critical industries in Europe and elsewhere are looking for more control over key digital infrastructure.

Current sovereign technology efforts focus on cloud computing, AI, national networks and secure communications. Smartphones remain largely dependent on closed Android and iOS platforms.

The company's software introduces a separate sovereign operating system on a smartphone. Android continues to operate in parallel.

Users can switch between the systems in milliseconds. The firm says this preserves familiar smartphone functions while adding an auditable environment for sensitive tasks.

In an early demonstration, Soverli showed the encrypted messaging service Signal running inside its sovereign operating system. The company said the arrangement cuts the attack surface for the app and isolates it from Android.

The demonstration used off-the-shelf devices. The firm said the approach does not reduce existing smartphone features.

The company links its pitch to concerns about recent large-scale software outages. These incidents have raised questions about reliance on a single operating system for critical operations.

Soverli says its software maintains a functioning environment if the main mobile OS fails through error or attack. It says this support extends to communication and other essential workflows.

"Availability is mission-critical, yet organizations still rely on operating systems they cannot control or audit," said Ivan Puddu, Co-founder and CEO, Soverli.

"We built a fully-auditable smartphone sovereign layer that stays operational even when Android is compromised. It's a paradigm shift: instead of hoping the OS never breaks, Soverli guarantees continuity if it does, without forcing users to give up the modern smartphone experience they expect."

The company is targeting public sector agencies, emergency services and operators of critical infrastructure. These groups often need continuity of communication during outages affecting mainstream systems.

Public sector pilots are under way with organisations responsible for emergency response and critical infrastructure. These projects focus on mission-critical communication.

Soverli also sees demand from journalists, human rights workers and other at-risk users. Its model keeps secure messaging and similar apps inside an isolated environment that is separate from the main OS.

The company is in talks with enterprises that operate bring-your-own-device schemes. Its architecture can create a private personal profile and a controlled business profile on the same smartphone.

The approach aims to protect corporate data while limiting visibility of employees' private activity. Both environments sit alongside the standard Android system.

Interest in Soverli's prototypes grew during its ETH Zurich research phase. Governments, public-sector bodies, enterprises and European smartphone manufacturers began approaching the team.

The company said engagement from device makers and systems integrators highlighted the strategic value of an independent smartphone layer. This interest contributed to the decision to spin out as an independent business.

Antonia Albert, Investor at Founderful, said the fund saw potential in Soverli's Swiss-based approach to mobile security. "People deserve phones they can actually trust, and OEMs must deliver it," said Albert. "Soverli's Swiss-made sovereign layer is the kind of breakthrough that can rewrite the rules of mobile security."

The wider policy landscape in Europe is shifting towards digital sovereignty. Governments and large organisations are assessing infrastructure that allows operational independence on top of consumer hardware and public cloud.

Cloud providers are already offering sovereign regions for sensitive workloads. Smartphone platforms have been slower to change, despite their role in secure communication and device management systems.

Soverli's design lets institutions set their own security posture on commercially available phones. They do not need to commission bespoke hardware or restrict users to a heavily locked-down handset.

The company plans to use the funding to grow its engineering team. It also intends to extend support to more smartphone models.

Soverli will work on tighter integration with mobile device management software. It will also expand partnerships with phone manufacturers and other ecosystem players.

The firm's long-term goal is a new model for how software layers sit on smartphones. It aims to make its sovereign OS available across commercial devices for governments, enterprises and consumers.