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London, 13 January 2023 – SpiderOak raised $16.4 million in an investment round led by Empyrean Technology Solutions, a space technology platform connected to Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. SpiderOak provides space cyber security solutions for next-generation space systems.
In a statement Charles Beams, SpiderOak executive chairman, said “Today, space-based assets are mission essential in all civil and military operations and rapidly becoming mission critical for all national and corporate infrastructure. The Space Force and the space industry consensus is that a cyber-attack is the most likely and most damaging threat to these assets.”
In 2021 SpiderOak won U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research contracts to test its OrbitSecure communications protocol to improve satellite cyber-security. The new investment round will be used to do on-orbit testing and secure flight heritage for OrbitSecure 2.0.
“Their proven track record of developing commercial Zero Trust technology is backed by an extensive patent portfolio”, said Matt Norton, managing director and leader of MDP’s Business & Government Software and Services team, “Their successful demonstrations of OrbitSecure make them the clear new leader in space cybersecurity. Through our existing Empyrean Technology Solutions platform, we’re excited to be your partner into the future.
SpiderOak is moving its headquarters to Reston, Virginia where a new space cybersecurity laboratory will be set up. Here SpiderOak will run OrbitSecure hardware-in-the-loop qualification testing as well as building their Mission Systems’ program and engineering teams.
