February 6, 2018
Investment will support SaaS data validation platform which prevents cyber threats in the mobility space
Colorado – Innosphere, Colorado’s leading technology incubator and General Partner of the
Israel – Colorado Innovation Fund (ICI Fund), has announced that the ICI Fund has made its first investment in Israeli-based startup, cycuro LTD, a company with a cloud-based mobility data validation platform. The ICI Fund is joining other investors of cycuro’s company in a pre-seed round. cycuro will predominantly utilize the funds for product and business development as the company continues to build trusted infrastructure for mobility data integrity.
The ICI Fund is a seed-stage venture capital fund investing in Israeli startups in the industries of water, energy, and transportation innovations. The ICI Fund helps these startups access the U.S. market and provides them with business support services through Innosphere.
cycuro will become a client company of Innosphere where it will gain access to Innosphere’s business incubation program which supports high-tech companies through critical stages of growth. In addition to business support, Innosphere will help cycuro establish a strong U.S. presence by connecting them with local talent, capital, and potential customers such as leading car insurance companies and car manufacturers.
cycuro’s solution is applicable to any mobility service provider (such as rentals, deliveries, ridesharing, fleets, auto insurance, and others). The cloud data validation platform is specifically designed to protect these mobility service providers from risks of malicious, fake, and tampered data.
“Since mobility service operators don’t verify data collected, they run the risk of processing false data. Combine that with the fact that hackers are hard at work creating tools to tamper with mobility data, and it’s clear there is a need for better solutions to thwart cyber threats in the mobility space,” said Matan Scharf, cycuro CEO. “We’re excited to be working with the Israel–Colorado Innovation Fund and Innosphere. Their expertise scaling technology companies will help us achieve our next milestones as our company paves the way to a future of reliable and secure data exchange.”
“cycuro has assembled an experienced team with a proven success record. The company is led by business leaders with over 40 years of accumulated experience in cyber research and entrepreneurship,” said Gili Elkin, ICI Fund General Partner. Their CEO has over 16 years of experience in cybersecurity, their COO served as the CFO of several public companies, and their Board Director previously served as President of Intel Israel.”
The ICI Fund is interested in investing in Israeli companies with technologies that will transform autonomous, connected and electric vehicles. “Israel is one of the most important technology centers for the transportation industry,” said Mike Freeman, Innosphere CEO and General Partner of the ICI Fund. “We’re proud to support cycuro’s CEO and founder, Matan Scharf, in the company’s next phase of growth in the U.S.
Investor interest is growing in the areas of self-driving cars and mobility data. As evidenced by PitchBook Data, global investments in the autonomous vehicle space took a recent leap – growing to $4 billion invested across 69 deals in 2017 compared to the $626 million invested across 34 deals in 2016.
For more information about Israel – Colorado Innovation Fund, contact General Partner, Gili Elkin, at [email protected]. For more information about Innosphere contact ICI Fund General Partner and Innosphere CEO, Mike Freeman, at [email protected] or (970) 818-7736.
###
About cycuro LTD
cycuro is a cloud-based mobility data validation platform, with solutions that guarantee data integrity for mobility services such as: use-based insurance; rentals; fleets; and ridesharing companies. cycuro is an Israeli startup company that was founded in 2016 by a group of cybersecurity experts with vast experience in critical operations for the defense, business and government sectors. cycuro has a revolutionary solution for thwarting cyber threats in the mobility space, provides mobility service providers with a cloud data validation, creates trust between mobility peers in the emerging smart mobility ecosystem, and paves the highway to a future of reliable and secure data exchange. https://www.cycuro.com/
About the Israel–Colorado Innovation Fund:
Israel – Colorado Innovation Fund (ICI Fund) is a seed-stage venture capital fund investing in Israeli startups in the industries of water, energy, and transportation. ICI Fund has an agreement with the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) according to which, startups that are selected for investment by ICI Fund can apply to the IIA grant. The ICI Fund supports portfolio companies with business development and helps them gain access the U.S. market through Innosphere, Colorado’s leading business incubator. https://www.ici.fund/
About Innosphere:
Innosphere is Colorado’s leading non-profit technology incubator accelerating the success of high-impact science, engineering and technology startups and scaleup. Innosphere has physical locations all along Colorado’s Front Range to support entrepreneurs building potential high-growth companies in the industries of life sciences, digital health, enterprise software, hardware, water, energy, transportation, and advanced materials. Innosphere’s incubation program focuses on ensuring companies are investor-ready, connecting entrepreneurs with experienced advisors, making introductions to corporate partners, and exit planning. Once accepted into the program, companies receive ongoing support to ensure they’re getting the know-how to raise the right kind of capital and all the resources to grow. innosphereventures.org