Italy's embedded cybersecurity firm Exein adds €100 million in funding as global expansion continues | EU-Startups

Exein, a Rome-based innovator in embedded cybersecurity for connected devices, today announced €100 million in new funding in order to accelerate product development and international expansion – bringing its total raised in 2025 to €170 million.

The round is led by Blue Cloud Ventures, with participation from HV Capital, Intrepid Growth Partners, Geodesic Capital, and J.P. Morgan.

Gianni Cuozzo, founder and CEO, Exein, says: “This round demonstrates just how rapidly Exein is growing. In just one year, we’ve become a truly global company, expanding across the US and Asia-Pacific, and emerged as the world’s largest embedded runtime security provider by devices protected.”

In the context of cybersecurity and adjacent security technologies, Exein’s extension round stands out markedly in terms of scale. Most funding announcements this year in the sector have been early-stage and significantly smaller.

These include XFA in Antwerp, which raised €1.5 million to address emerging workplace cybersecurity risks; Equixly in Verona, which secured a €10 million Series A to scale its AI-driven API security testing platform – notably placing another Italian company in the broader cybersecurity landscape; and Paris-based Evertrust, which also raised €10 million to expand its digital trust and PKI offering.

At the earlier end of the spectrum, Zurich-based Soverli (€2.2 million pre-Seed), Ireland’s Mirror Security (€2.1 million pre-Seed), and Lithuanian startup CBRX (€540k pre-Seed) reflect continued investor interest in specialised security niches such as sovereign mobile security, encrypted AI, and cloud-based cyber tooling.

Taken together, these rounds account for approximately €28 million of disclosed funding in 2025, excluding Exein itself.

Against this backdrop – and following its already EU-Startups-covered €70 million Series C in July 2025 – Exein’s latest raise positions it at the very top of the funding distribution for European cybersecurity this year.

“This new funding allows us to accelerate even faster in 2026 and to support our M&A strategy as we scale into new markets. It will also enable us to introduce the next generation of runtime security technology, probably the most significant advance in our field in almost a decade. We’ll unveil the first wave of this breakthrough at RSAC in Q1, as we continue building the digital immune system that will protect the connected world for years to come,” adds Cuozzo.

Founded in 2018, Exein provides AI-powered runtime protection directly inside device software, securing more than 1.5 billion devices across critical sectors including industrial automation, automotive, energy, healthcare, semiconductors, aerospace and robotics.

Exein’s growth reflects both the mounting threat to global businesses and organisations from cyber attacks and a shift to secure connected devices at the source, rather than through conventional perimeter defences.

Within the first quarter of 2026, the number of devices running Exein software is expected to surpass two billion, as Exein rolls out new technology, the number of active devices rises and regulatory pressure for device-level security increases.

Rami Rahal, Founder and Managing Partner at Blue Cloud Ventures, says: “Connected devices are now the largest and least protected attack surface in the world. Exein’s mission is a vital one, and its solution – to place intelligent, real-time defence inside the device itself – is exactly what the market needs as cyberattacks increasingly spill into the physical world. We’re proud to back Exein as it builds the digital immune system for the next decade of global infrastructure.”

Exein will deploy the capital to:

• Advance a new generation of embedded runtime security technology for connected devices, including AI-driven protection for on-device AI and large language models (LLMs), with the first wave of this breakthrough to be unveiled at RSAC 2026.
• Support a multi-deal M&A programme in 2026 in Europe and the US
• Accelerate international expansion, particularly in the US and APAC markets

As cyberattacks increasingly target the physical world, shutting down hospitals, and airports, disrupting transport systems, and compromising supply chains, the company explains that manufacturers are moving away from traditional perimeter defences and towards protection embedded directly in the device.

Exein’s platform places AI-powered runtime security inside the firmware itself, enabling devices to detect, contain and respond to threats in real time, even without continuous connectivity.

This model looks to give manufacturers deeper integrity and provenance checks across their entire supply chain, while ensuring compliance with global cybersecurity regulations such as RED 3.3, the forthcoming EU Cyber Resilience Act, and the US Cyber Trust Mark.

Max Hauer, Innovation Economy Banking at J.P. Morgan, says: “Securing the world’s connected devices is becoming essential to the resilience of modern infrastructure. Exein is playing a pivotal role in this, and we are pleased to support the company as it enters its next phase of global growth.”

The latest funding follows Exein’s €70 million Series C in July 2025, which enabled the company to accelerate its expansion across North America and Asia-Pacific, including the opening of a new Taipei office early next year.

This year, Exein has delivered 5x YoY revenue growth, expanded its customer footprint across critical infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, and made partnerships with leading manufacturers and chipset providers, including Kontron and Mediatek.

The company’s valuation has nearly doubled in the five months between the July fundraise and this extension, highlighting both commercial performance and surging demand for device-level cybersecurity.