Exein, a company that develops embedded cybersecurity technologies for IoT devices, announces that it has raised €70 million in a Series C funding round.
The round is led by British venture capital fund Balderton, with Supernova and Lakestar, and the participation of existing investors 33N, United Ventures and Partech, who had participated in the €15 million round announced in July 2024. The new capital will support the company’s global expansion plans, with a focus on the United States, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, as well as strengthening its already established presence in Europe.
With 450% year-on-year growth, Exein now protects over a billion devices worldwide through strategic partnerships with leading global chip manufacturers and OEM/ODMs, including MediaTek, Supermicro, Kontron, SECO, and AAEON.
Considering that one in three data breaches involves an IoT device, Exein develops a set of solutions that integrate advanced security features directly into connected devices. Exein offers real-time threat detection powered by artificial intelligence in strategic sectors such as critical infrastructure (such as railway networks and airports), semiconductors (microchip production lines), energy (strategic power grids), automotive (autonomous driving systems), healthcare (national health databases) and robotics (industrial robotic arms, humanoid robots).
Exein’s endpoint approach creates a digital immune system that protects individual devices instead of relying solely on centralised network defences. This decentralised model allows manufacturers to easily integrate the latest security solutions, protecting devices from cyber threats and ensuring compliance with global regulations such as the European NIS2 directive, the Cyber Resilience Act (effective from 2026) and the US Cyber Trust Mark.
As part of its global strategic expansion, Exein is developing runtime security solutions to protect artificial intelligence infrastructures and large language models (LLMs). This continuous monitoring, with real-time threat detection and response, addresses the growing need to secure AI and LLMs operating directly within devices, rather than in centralised cloud environments. In addition, the funds raised will support Exein in evaluating strategic M&A opportunities in the cybersecurity sector, further strengthening its growth plans.
Gianni Cuozzo, founder and CEO of Exein, (pictured with CFO Gerardo Gagliardo and CTO Giovanni Falcione) said in a statement: “Exein’s extraordinary growth demonstrates how urgent it is to protect the devices that are part of our daily lives. Embedded security at the individual device level is now essential, and we are proud to support the world’s leading manufacturers in ensuring the highest levels of protection, offering them the certainty of compliance with the latest regulations. I am extremely proud to contribute to strengthening the foundations of European technological innovation and to have the trust of partners and investors as we continue our global expansion and mission to build the digital immune system of the connected world.
Elena Moneta, principal at Balderton, says: “We live in an age where everything from rail networks to industrial machinery is connected and therefore vulnerable. With critical infrastructure increasingly defined by software and interconnected, the risks are increasing, especially now that artificial intelligence allows attackers to hit more targets more quickly. And they no longer breach the network through the front door: a microwave on a military ship or a smart aquarium in a hospital waiting room can become vectors for compromising an entire network. Exein tackles the threat at its root: directly on the device, integrating real-time security at the edge of the network, with continuous monitoring, learning and response. We couldn’t imagine a better team to tackle this challenge, and we are extremely proud to support Gianni and his team in building the foundations of cybersecurity for a hyperconnected, AI-powered world.
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