Cybersecurity Company Cigent Secures $7.6 Million

By Annie Baker • May 16, 2021
  • Cigent Technology announced recently that it closed a $7.6 million Series A round of funding. These are the details.

Cigent Technology announced recently that it closed a $7.6 million Series A round of funding with In-Q-Tel, CyberJunction, WestWave Capital, and several prominent individual investors participating. And the funding enables Cigent to commercialize and bring to market Cigent Data Defense. 

This breakthrough approach protects companies and individuals from ransomware, data theft, and malicious insider attacks, ending 30 years of failure by the cybersecurity industry. And Cigent Data Defense leverages software and hardware products to prevent network, endpoint, and cloud-based data infiltration even after a network has been breached.

Cigent Data Defense combines Cigent’s Dynamic Data Defense Engine (D³E) software with Cigent Secure SSDs and takes a different approach to protect against data theft and ransomware than previous cybersecurity technology. And Cigent’s D³E for Windows is the first and only data defense software to rely on file-level Zero-Trust access controls to protect sensitive files against any threat. D³E relies on multi-factor authentication and encryption to secure sensitive files anywhere they are shared or stored, even after a security breach. Plus D³E can be used as a standalone software solution or in tandem with Cigent Secure SSDs. Cigent Data Defense is designed for use by individuals, SMBs, corporate enterprises, and government entities.

Several prominent individual investors have participated in Cigent’s funding:

— Avie Tevanian, formerly Apple Inc.’s Chief Software Technology Officer

— Tom Paquin, Co-Founder of Netscape and Mozilla

— Brendan O’Halloran, former Vice-Chair at TD Securities

— William Cyr, Chief Executive Officer at NASDAQ-listed Freshpet

— Alan Pollard, President – Product and Innovation at The Vitality Group

— Francois Millard, Senior Vice President/Chief Actuarial Officer at The Vitality Group

— Dr. Tony Martin, President and Founder of Strategic Solutions Unlimited

— Gary Wipfler, Treasurer, Apple Inc.

CyberJunction’s Thomas DiBenedetto and Brendan O’Halloran have also joined the Cigent board of directors. And DiBenedetto – who leads CyberJunction – is also Chairman of Jefferson Waterman International, a Washington D.C.-based international consulting firm and a partner in the Fenway Sports Group LLC (FSG), the parent company of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club.

KEY QUOTE:

“In-Q-Tel scouts the global market for cutting-edge technologies that have the potential for high national security impact, and we’re excited to be an investor in Cigent, which has built technology to protect against ransomware, data theft and malicious insider theft.” 

— Bentz Tozer, Senior Member, Technical Staff at In-Q-Tel

“We’ve received support well beyond capital from our investment group. Several of our investors are directly responsible for commercial engagements the Company now has in place. In addition to the publicly disclosed investment, the Company enjoys significant sources of non-dilutive capital from governmental partners.”

— Bradley Rowe, CEO of Cigent