NetFoundry raises Series A venture round
NetFoundry Raises $15+ Million Series A to Accelerate Adoption of Identity-First Networking
Zero-trust networking pioneer serving 2,000+ companies secures funding to scale secure-by-design connectivity solutions
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NetFoundry, creator of the OpenZiti open-source project and pioneer of Identity-First Networking™, today announced the close of its Series A funding round totaling over $15 million. The round was led by SYN Ventures, with participation from CircleRock and strategic investor Cisco Investments.
NetFoundry's Identity-First Overlays™ platform already delivers over one billion sessions per month, securing critical infrastructure for some of the world's most demanding enterprises, including eight of the ten largest U.S. banks and two of the top five Fortune 500 companies. The new funding will enable NetFoundry to expand its reach and continue its momentum in unifying identity, authorization, networking, and security.
"The hyperconnected, AI-accelerated world requires networking that is both simple and secure," said Galeal Zino, Co-Founder and CEO of NetFoundry. "Our team is thrilled to welcome SYN Ventures, CircleRock, and Cisco Investments to our group of strategic partners. This funding enables us to help organizations worldwide move beyond the costly complexity of VPNs, firewalls, and traditional network architectures to embrace secure-by-design connectivity."
Reinventing Network Security for the Modern Enterprise
NetFoundry's Identity-First Overlays™ ingrain security directly within the network fabric, using identity-based micro-segmentation to embed authentication and policy enforcement before any IP connectivity occurs. This approach enables secure-by-default sessions between endpoints, APIs, and applications across diverse environments—eliminating the need for VPNs, inbound firewall ports, and constant rule changes.
The platform addresses critical use cases including:
API and Agentic AI Security: Making APIs completely invisible until authentication and authorization complete
IT/OT Segmentation: Simplified microsegmentation for internal networks and industrial systems
Partner Connectivity: Replacing VPNs with simpler, more secure identity-based access
Customer Connectivity: Enabling solution providers to deploy connectivity in minutes, not weeks
"The future of both networking and security lies in their fusion, where identity and policy are embedded directly into the network," said Janey Hoe, Vice President of Cisco Investments. "Cisco Investments is excited to support NetFoundry as they advance this approach."
Proven at Scale, Poised for Growth
NetFoundry serves 2,000 companies globally and secures critical infrastructure across three continents. As the inventor and maintainer of OpenZiti—the world's most widely used open-source zero-trust networking software—NetFoundry has established itself as the leader in embedded zero-trust networking.
"We are excited to see the continued momentum behind NetFoundry," said Jay Leek, Founder and Managing Director of SYN Ventures. "Their technology addresses fundamental challenges in modern networking and security, and their traction with enterprise customers validates the massive market opportunity ahead."
This Series A builds on over $50 million in previous strategic investment and marks a key milestone in NetFoundry's mission to help secure the hyperconnected world with effortlessly extraordinary, secure-by-design networking.
About NetFoundry
NetFoundry's Identity-First Overlays™ serve innovators everywhere, from Fortune 500 enterprises to solution providers embedding zero-trust connectivity into their products. The company's cloud services enable organizations to instantly spin up secure-by-design overlays, while its platform supports self-hosted deployments, including in air-gapped environments. NetFoundry is the creator and maintainer of OpenZiti, the world's most widely used open-source zero-trust networking software. For more information, visit netfoundry.io.