Viakoo Closes $10 Mln Series a Funding Round to Make IoT Devices More Secure

Viakoo, a cyber security startup based in California, has secured $10 million in Series A funding to make IoT vulnerability management more scalable through automation.

The funding round was led by Shasta Ventures with participation from Stanley Black & Decker, PivotNorth Capital, and Blue Fog Capital. These investments bring the total funding raised by the startup to $11.9 million, allowing Viakoo to expand its executive leadership, as well as to boost product development and go-to-market efforts. Bud Broomhead, CEO at Viakoo, referred to the round by stating:

“With support from our investors, Viakoo is entering its next chapter of growth to achieve its vision of helping customers defend their IoT attack surfaces across the enterprise. We’ve already gained significant traction with large-scale customers, including cities, healthcare, education, and large data centers. With our latest investment, we are now in an excellent position to extend our leadership in IoT device vulnerability remediation.”

Viakoo was founded with the mission to increase the security of IoT devices by facilitating the management of outdated systems, reducing the number of attack vectors available to hackers. The startup’s Viakoo Action Platform facilitates the remediation and repatriation of IoT devices in a secure manner, allowing companies to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of their operations. Nitin Chopra, Managing Director at Shasta Ventures, said about the relevance of this solution:

“Today’s enterprises are experiencing cyber vulnerabilities caused by thousands of unmanaged and IoT devices that keep their employees and facilities secure, and perform critical functions to ensure the business or facility runs smoothly. Viakoo enables organizations to secure, manage, and remediate both loosely and tightly coupled devices like medical equipment, point-of-sales systems, HVAC, video security and other IP-based systems at scale.”

The increasing use of IoT devices has increased the possible points of entry malicious actors can make use of to gain control over a system. This has certainly played a role in the number of ransomware attacks and other breaches experienced by an increasing number of companies over the past years. By allowing cybersecurity experts to better manage an organization’s IoT devices, Viakoo expects to play an essential role in the reduction of successful cyberattacks as the world becomes increasingly aware of the risks.