IoT security firm ZingBox raises $22M in Series B funding round

Internet of Things (IoT) security solution provider, ZingBox, has raised US$22 million in a Series B funding round led by Dell Technologies Capital and Triventures. The new investment will enable ZingBox to meet strong demand for its IoT Guardian technology. It plans to use the additional capital to increase headcount and accelerate product capabilities, and expand market reach. “We are honored by the support Dell Technologies Capital and Triventures have instilled in us,” said Xu Zou, Co-founder and CEO of ZingBox.

“Their faith in our device personality approach to IoT security reaffirms our vision and strategy of offering revolutionary solution designed from the ground up to address the unique security challenges of IoT.”

ZingBox IoT Guardian leverages machine learning to discover, assess risk, baseline normal behavior, detect anomalous activities and provide real-time remediation across an organization’s entire IoT footprint. “Dell Technologies Capital invests in innovative founders and companies that can utilize our technical resources and unique go-to-market channels to bring their breakthrough technology to customers around the globe,” said Raman Khanna, Managing Director of Dell Technologies Capital. Peter Fitzgerald, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Triventures, added, “We are thrilled to partner with ZingBox and its talented team. The company brings the right solution at the right time for healthcare organizations that need real time visibility and cyber protection to optimize operations and provide uninterrupted, quality patient care.” ZingBox also announced it entered into a strategic partnership earlier this year with SoftBank C&S to expand the company’s global presence. SoftBank C&S is a global channel partner introducing the ZingBox IoT Guardian solution to the Japanese market and beyond. What does the funding mean for CEO Zou? He writes on the company blog:

As we geared up for this announcement, I was asked repeatedly what this funding means to ZingBox. Here are my thoughts on the significance of this announcement:

1. It validates the market – The latest round of funding confirms what we have known for the past few years and the reason why we established ZingBox in 2014. IoT adoption is accelerating at a rapid pace. In fact, many market predictions considered to be over-estimates at the time (e.g., over 20 billion IoT devices in use by year 2020) are now considered to be conservative estimates.
2. IoT threats are real – If you are a fan of a particular TV series, you’ll know that not everyone believes “White Walkers” are real. Well, IoT threats are very real. The Mirai attack in 2016, followed by the barrage of attacks in 2017 kicked off by WannaCry ransomware, exemplifies the rapid pace of attacks we face today. These attacks are not merely targeting traditional IT assets such as PCs and laptops. They are targeting IoT devices as a way into the enterprise infrastructure or to disrupt critical services.
3. We are on the right path – Taking a new unchartered approach to IoT security is not an easy task. Others tend to take existing technologies or products that work reasonably well in the IT security world and tweak it in the hopes that it can be applied to IoT. We believe the unique new natures of IoT require a fundamentally different approach, and Machine Learning is the only way to scale up to secure all IoT. The latest round of funding reaffirms that the challenging path we took to design an IoT security solution from the ground up specifically for IoT devices was indeed the right path.