Indurex, a Paris-based industrial cybersecurity startup, has raised €7 million (approximately $7.5 million) in a funding round to accelerate development and commercial expansion of its SafeGuard AI platform. The round was led by Contrarian Ventures, with participation from Axeleo Capital and Curiosity.
The startup focuses on protecting operational technology and information technology-converged environments across critical sectors including energy, utilities, manufacturing, and data centres. Unlike traditional cybersecurity approaches that concentrate on network defence, Indurex’s platform targets what the company describes as the core vulnerability in industrial operations: the engineering, process, and safety signals that determine whether facilities operate within safe parameters.
Addressing a Gap in Industrial Security
According to Jalal Bouhdada, “Cyber defences in these critical sectors have focused solely on the network. We focus on the core industrial data itself: the engineering, process and safety signals that determine whether a plant is operating within safe limits. Cybersecurity and operational excellence have too often been managed as separate disciplines — Engineering Intelligence is the missing layer, and this funding allows us to bring that capability to more operators across critical infrastructure.”
This positioning reflects a growing recognition within the industrial cybersecurity market that conventional security measures may overlook threats targeting operational processes themselves rather than just information systems. The distinction proves particularly significant for sectors where equipment malfunction or process anomalies could result in safety incidents or operational downtime.
Expansion Strategy
Indurex intends to deploy the funding toward research and development activities alongside expansion of its commercial operations. The company has outlined a geographic expansion strategy beginning with Europe and the Middle East, followed by entry into US and Asia-Pacific markets.
The funding reflects investor confidence in the growing demand for specialized industrial cybersecurity solutions. As manufacturing environments increasingly adopt digital technologies and connectivity expands across legacy industrial systems, vulnerability to cyber threats has become a pressing concern for facility operators globally.
European Context
The investment underscores France’s continued emergence as a significant hub for cybersecurity innovation within the broader European startup ecosystem. French cybersecurity startups have attracted substantial investment in recent years, addressing diverse security challenges across sectors from cloud infrastructure to industrial operations. Indurex joins other European industrial cybersecurity ventures addressing the specific vulnerabilities present in operational technology environments where downtime or safety failures carry substantial real-world consequences beyond data breach considerations.
The startup’s focus on critical infrastructure protection aligns with increasing regulatory and strategic attention to industrial cybersecurity across European member states and NATO, making solutions targeting this market particularly timely within the current geopolitical and economic context.