SpiderOak raises $16.4 million to protect space mission systems
SpiderOak has raised $16.4M in Series C round led by Empyrean Technology Solutions, a space technology platform backed by funds affiliated with Madison Dearborn Partners. The Series C round included additional investment from Method Capital, and OCA Ventures.
The oversubscribed round further validates the immediate need for end-to-end cybersecurity solutions to protect space mission systems.
“Today, space-based assets are mission essential in all civil and military operations and rapidly becoming mission critical for all national and corporate infrastructure. The Space Force and the space industry consensus is that a cyber-attack is the most likely and most damaging threat to these assets,” said Charles Beames, Executive Chairman of SpiderOak.
“Space is a demanding environment in many ways and SpiderOak’s proven zero-trust solution, using its patented distributed ledger tech, is well positioned to address these cyber threats head-on. This oversubscribed Series C round by true industry leaders highlights their trust in our ability to solve this problem for both government and commercial customers,” Beames continued.
SpiderOak’s latest funding will allow the company to complete on-orbit testing and achieve flight heritage of OrbitSecure 2.0. The company will also establish its headquarters in Reston, VA, allowing a complete build out of SpiderOak Mission Systems’ program and engineering teams.
Additionally, SpiderOak will also develop a space cybersecurity laboratory for hardware in the loop qualification testing for OrbitSecure and custom mission partner solutions.
“SpiderOak brings a wealth of industry experience in cybersecurity solutions to national security, an area we are already heavily invested in,” said Matt Norton, Managing Director and Head of MDP’s Business & Government Software and Services team.
“Their proven track record in developing commercial zero-trust technology is backed by a substantial patent portfolio. Their successful demonstrations of OrbitSecure make them the clear new leader in the space cybersecurity arena. Through our existing platform, Empyrean Technology Solutions, we are thrilled to be their partners into the future,” Norton added.
“SpiderOak’s software solution begins by securing every data record, both in transit and at rest,” added Dave Pearah, CEO of SpiderOak.
“We have designed it to be backwards compatible with legacy space systems, to allow current on orbit systems to take the step to much higher cybersecurity protections. With its ultra-low storage and processor needs, OrbitSecure is the ideal solution for the next generation of mesh networks in proliferated LEO,” Pearah continued.
SpiderOak’s zero-trust OrbitSecure software was developed for 21st century space needs and is also backward compatible to the Space Force’s existing on-orbit constellations. OrbitSecure utilizes a new fully decentralized key management system allowing for full availability and continued operations in space despite disconnected or highly contested networks.
This new capability provides enhanced decentralized space resiliency to multi-vendor, multi-network, mesh proliferated low-Earth orbit (LEO) networks by reducing the attack surface and the ability of adversaries to jam, disrupt, modify, or contest space communications and satellite services.
This latest round comes just months after SpiderOak announced a contract with the U.S Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to demonstrate OrbitSecure’s zero-trust protocol on-orbit. SpiderOak also has active contracts with several contractors in the space industry as well as other government and commercial customers.