Brussels and Paris-based Dust Mobile, a company that offers secure mobile communications, announced on Thursday, November 17, that it has raised €12M in its Series B round of funding.
The Defense Innovation Fund, managed by Bpifrance and subscribed by the Defense Innovation Agency (AID), was the investment’s lead investor. Besides, previous investors in this round also included Tikehau Ace Capital through the Brienne III fund (a fund devoted to cybersecurity), and OMNES Capital, a player in private equity and infrastructure investment.
“Cutting-edge mobile cyber defence”
Founded in 2017 by François d’Ormesson and Jean Michel Henrard, Dust Mobile offers a secure-by-design cyber defence solution for mobile communications. The company claims that its product is the first to handle the security of vital mobile communications in the face of online threats linked to transmissions, signalling protocols (SS7, Diameter, GTP, SIP, Camel, etc.) and flaws in cellular mobile networks.
Dust Mobile offers its users comprehensive coverage, protection, detection, real-time warning of assaults, and automatic countermeasure execution. The solution defends against attacks on mobile cellular networks and assaults on SIM cards because of its SIM Cybercell technology, which is adaptable to any linked devices or applications. As a result, it effectively completes the cyber ecosystem and the chain of security for mobile communications.
Currently, the startup offers high levels of resilience and security to organisations and governments in 214 countries and territories thanks to its partnerships with more than 684 mobile operator companies worldwide. Its customers are mainly in Europe and North America.
Dust Mobile is a member of the international telecommunications bodies ITU, GSMA, 3GPP, ETSI, RIPE and in particular of the GSMA “Security & Fraud” and ITU SG17 groups. More recently, the company has joined the Cercle de l’Arbalète.
Capital utilisation
Dust Mobile says it will use the funds to accelerate its development in Europe and abroad, strengthen its operational and commercial resources, and implement new services for better customer experience while developing its technological lead and competitive advantages.
Co-founder Jean Michel Henrard, says, “We are thrilled with this new stage of acceleration in our development. Cyber defences are extremely limited when it comes to attacks on inter-operator transmissions and signalling. These increasingly sophisticated attacks allow for remote interception of mobile communications, real-time geolocation of equipment, targeted denial of service, and digital identity theft, all without detection by users. The support of our funds will enable companies and governments to protect themselves more effectively.”
