Dragos, Inc., the global leader in cybersecurity for industrial controls systems (ICS)/operational technology (OT) environments, has announced a $74 million Series D extension funding round, led by strategic operating and investing firm WestCap.
According to Dragos, the equity investment is an extension of its $200 million Series D that took place in October 2021, led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, an investment arm of Koch Industries, with funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, a leading global asset manager. This brings the Series D round to $274 million, with total funds raised to date now approximately $440 million.
According to analyst firm Frost & Sullivan, “The global industrial cybersecurity market will likely hit $10.2 billion by 2025 from $3.3 billion in 2020, registering exponential growth at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.3%.1” The funding will support additional go-to-market initiatives to meet growing demand. It will also fund accelerated expansion in key growth markets including North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific; and across diverse industries including electric, oil & gas, chemical, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, water, transportation, mining, and building automation.
“The industrial threat landscape irreversibly changed this past year, and critical industries are seeking solutions that give them visibility into their OT networks and defend against the threats making headlines and driving government action,” said Robert M. Lee, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Dragos, Inc. “Demand for OT cybersecurity continues to be strong and this extension allows us to scale. What’s really exciting is that WestCap, as lead investor, is a partner in our success and shares our commitment to build the collective defence to protect industrial organisations and the communities they serve.”
The extension round arrives as governments and infrastructure providers globally are recognising the importance of industrial cybersecurity and demanding more attention to their ICS/OT environments, Dragos said. This shift is demonstrated in the release of the Biden administration’s National Cybersecurity Strategy this year, and the March 23 hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, during which Lee testified on the cybersecurity risks to energy infrastructure. Internationally, government initiatives across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific are having a similar impact.
“As cyberattacks escalate in frequency and complexity, it is critical that we support the scaling of leading companies like Dragos whose mission is to ‘safeguard civilization,’” said Laurence A. Tosi, Founder and Managing Partner at WestCap. “Dragos is the category leader in protecting critical infrastructure with a holistic cybersecurity approach in the Operational Technology segment led by a respected leadership team with a proven track record for investigating the most high-profile cybercrimes in recent history and building innovative technology to isolate and combat those threats.”
The Series D funding extension will bolster Dragos’s ability to make ICS/OT cybersecurity more accessible around the world. This year, Dragos has already expanded across Western Europe and the DACH region, building on its established presence in the UK. This summer, Dragos entered into an agreement with Macnica to provide Dragos’s cybersecurity solutions in Japan, signifying Dragos’s expansion in Asia-Pacific beyond its presence in Australia and New Zealand. In August, the company signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) to support the country’s efforts to defend against cyber-attacks to its operational technology and critical infrastructure. Dragos also continued to grow its footprint in the Middle East through its established presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
Dragos also received top industry recognition this year. In August, the Dragos Platform received the SC Award for Best Industrial Security Solution for its ability to help organisations identify their OT assets, manage vulnerabilities, and detect and respond to threats that target industrial control systems. Dragos also received the SC Award for Most Promising Unicorn. In June, Dragos was named Best Incident Response Solution by SC Awards Europe. This year’s awards followed Lee’s recognition in 2022 as SC’s Security Executive of the Year, and as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic region.
For more cybersecurity news, click here
