Upstream Security, announced that a prominent syndicate of investors, including some of the world’s largest OEM automotive vehicle manufacturers, insurance and fleet operators, invested $30 million in a Series-B funding round, bringing the company’s total investment to date to $41 million. The round was led by Renault Venture Capital and included Volvo Group Venture Capital, Hyundai, Hyundai AutoEver, Nationwide Ventures and others. Original Upstream investors Charles River Ventures, Glilot Capital and Maniv Mobility all participated in the round.
“This first of its kind investor syndicate, which includes some of the most important smart mobility companies in the world, is a testament to the severity of the problem the industry is tackling and a ringing endorsement of Upstream’s technology and the progress our team has made,” said Yoav Levy, Upstream Security Co-founder and CEO. “Our mission is to protect every connected vehicle and smart mobility service on the planet – the completion of our funding is perfectly timed to meet the growing demand for our data driven cloud-based platform, providing our customers with the capabilities they need to accomplish this vitally important task.”
The inherent risks in connected cars were in the headlines multiple times over the past 18 months culminating with consumer groups identifying connected vehicles as a potential national security threat. Earlier this year a report published by Upstream Security outlining the automotive threat landscape spanning the past decade, demonstrated that multiple stakeholders ranging from OEM vehicle manufacturers to commercial and public sector fleets have been targeted. In many cases attacks were executed indirectly via connected services and applications and from long distance.
Establishing a security framework for connected cars entails a multi-layer approach that secures both the vehicles as well as the infrastructure connecting them. With prolonged time-to-market and limited coverage of in-vehicle security solutions, the Upstream C4 platform solves this fundamental problem by enabling OEM car manufacturers and fleets to detect, monitor and respond to attacks targeting any part of the connected vehicle framework – even for vehicles already on the road.
“We were impressed by Upstream’s mature platform and exciting customer traction, which is why we made the investment,” said Christian Noske, Head of Alliance Ventures. “Upstream’s world-class team built a truly unique cloud-based automotive cybersecurity model that is highly scalable with a visionary technical approach that solves a growing problem in the mobility industry.”
“Securing our customers’ connected vehicles is always top of mind for Volvo,” noted David Hanngren, Investment Director at Volvo Group. “We have chosen to invest in Upstream because they have a great vision for addressing this unique sector, an impressive management team and serious depth in both automotive domain expertise and cybersecurity.”
“Security is the core element of connected vehicle which we cannot compromise,” said Yunseong Hwang, VP of Open Innovation Investment Group at Hyundai Motor. “Upstream has demonstrated how its optimized security technology can strengthen vehicle security. They are also keeping pace with technology to ensure its innovation evolves beyond simple vehicle movement. We believe that Upstream is leading the innovation in security of connected vehicle.”
“Nationwide understands that the safety and security of connected vehicles go hand-in-hand.” said Erik Ross, leader of Nationwide’s venture capital team, “As technology in vehicles becomes even more sophisticated, security is a critical building block and Upstream’s solution focuses on protecting our members’ in the evolving mobility ecosystem.”
