Trillium Secure, Inc., a global provider of cybersecurity protection and secure data management for vehicles and fleets, has announced an $11 million (€9.36 million) round of Series A2 funding led by JAFCO. Other participating investors included Airbus Ventures, Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Tokyo Century Corporation and Plug and Play Ventures.
The funds will be used for expanding Trillium’s product engineering, sales & marketing and customer support services to meet its rapidly growing global base of customers, partners and project deployments. The latest round brings Trillium’s total funding to $15 million (€12.76 million).
“We believe Trillium’s revolutionary business model and multi-layered approach raise the bar for hackers and Trillium’s competitors in the race to secure and protect vehicles and driver data,” said Shinichi Fuki, president & CEO of JAFCO, Japan’s largest venture capital firm with $3.2 billion (€2.72 billion) in total commitments. “Effective cybersecurity solutions such as Trillium’s are key to helping ensure a smooth transition to the connected and autonomous vehicles of today and tomorrow.”
The company’s Trillium Secure subscription service defends against cyber-attacks and ensures the safety, privacy and integrity of data through a patented suite of software products. The Trillium Secure multi-layered suite of products includes SecureGO, SecureIXS, SecureOTA and SecureSKYE.
“We support entrepreneurs with unique ideas, value added solutions and disruptive business models. Trillium represents these elements and is exactly the type of partner we want when making strategic investments,” said Lewis Pinault, managing investment partner, Japan & Asia Pacific, Airbus Ventures, the investment arm of the European multinational aircraft manufacturer. “Trillium has developed an effective lifecycle solution to securing mission critical data suitable for use across the transportation industry.”
“A strong partner for cybersecurity is crucial when it comes to operating connected vehicles and fleets. We see Trillium as one of the leading players in the market and look forward to supporting its expansion in Europe,” says Boris Kuhn, managing director of Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures, the venture capital division of Deutsche Bahn.
Globally, the transportation market is going through dramatic changes with an ever-increasing number of vehicles connecting to the internet making their control, communication and entertainment systems vulnerable to cyber-incursions. The digitisation of core vehicle functions has led to rapid growth in the market to protect connected vehicles from cyber threats.
“Analysts estimate the transportation industry cybersecurity market will top $22 billion (€18.72 billion) by 2030,” said David Uze, president and CEO of Trillium. “With this round of investment, Trillium is positioned to capture a significant share of the vehicular cybersecurity assurance market.”
Due to recently enacted privacy laws like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, as well as California’s Consumer Data Privacy Law, vehicular data lifecycle cybersecurity assurance is among the most important issues we will face.
“Under the expansion of connected car market and development of autonomous driving technology, cybersecurity assurance over the vehicle must be the most important issue we will face.”
We see Trillium as an excellent investment because of its advanced technology on cybersecurity over the automobile,” said Mr. Yoshito Kitagawa, president, Business Development Unit, Tokyo Century Corporation, a Japan-based leasing and financing company whose business includes auto leasing and car rental. “We empower businesses like Trillium and are pleased to support Trillium?s continued customer expansion and product development efforts.”
“Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, as part of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the Japan-based banking and financial services group, finds that Trillium’s business model aligns with their core values of protecting customer assets and safeguarding the privacy and value of vehicular data,” said Muneki Handa, president of Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. “Trillium enables value added services for fleets and other value chain partners by securing and aggregating increasingly robust pools of that data.”
“We seek to invest in companies that are creating the businesses of tomorrow,” said Ivan Zgomba, partner at Plug and Play Ventures, one of the most active early stage investors in Silicon Valley. “In a very short time, Trillium has established itself as a leader in vehicular cybersecurity and data protection, and we are thrilled to be part of its journey.”
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