Israeli cyber security company Votiro Cybersec has closed a $11.2 million capital raise from Australian investors, ahead of an imminent expansion down under and an IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange.
As reported by Yolanda Redrup in the AFR:
The company’s pre-IPO round, which it said was oversubscribed, saw cornerstone investor Daniel Sekers’ Divergent Group return, in addition to Redfield Asset Management and a range of undisclosed high-net-worth backers and small funds.
Votiro chief executive Itay Glick told The Australian Financial Review that interest in the round was boosted by the number of high-profile attacks in recent weeks, such as WannaCry and Petya, which he believed would have been prevented with Votiro’s technology.
The company has patented a process known as ‘content disarm and reconstruction’, which involves breaking down files into objects, neutralising any malicious code and reconstructing the file into a safe-to-use and fully functional file. This lets the company prevent unknown threats, known as zero-day exploits.
“With Votiro, we’d neutralise the attachment before it goes to the user. When the user opens the email, they’d either see a blank document as the attachment or as it was without the malware.”
Experts have said WannaCry was not spread by emails, rather by targeted attacks on organisations using older versions of Windows, however many attacks are propagated by phishing emails.
The cyber security firm launched in 2010 and its founders Mr Glick and Aviv Grafi both previously served in the 8200 cyber-warfare unit of the Israeli defence force.
Mr Glick said the company was in the process of choosing between Melbourne and Sydney for its new headquarters, and a decision was expected in the coming days.
Israel Trade and Economic Commission in Sydney, Australia 