DENVER – Cybersecurity specialist SpiderOak raised $16.4 million in a Series C investment round led by Empyrean Technology Solutions, a space technology platform affiliated with Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Method Capital and OCA Ventures participated in the round.

“Today, space-based assets are mission essential in all civil and military operations and rapidly becoming mission critical for all national and corporate infrastructure,” Charles Beams, SpiderOak executive chairman, said in a statement. “The Space Force and the space industry consensus is that a cyber-attack is the most likely and most damaging threat to these assets.”

SpiderOak has quickly raised its profile in the space sector by winning U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research contracts for OrbitSecure, an off-the-shelf product designed to enhance satellite and constellation cybersecurity.

“Space is a demanding environment in many ways and SpiderOak’s proven zero-trust solution, using its patented distributed ledger technology, is well positioned to address these cyber threats head-on,” said Beames, a former Defense Department principal director for space and intelligence systems.

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