Tempered Networks Raises $15M For Industrial Network Security

Tempered Networks, which aims to improve network security at manufacturing and industrial facilities, said it raised $15 million from Ignition Partners and IDG Ventures.

The Seattle company’s Series A funding round, led by Ignition, builds on what it described as a $5 million bridge funding round in December, and $2 million in seed funding raised last year.

Tempered Networks was co-founded in 2014 by David Mattes, a former Boeing network security expert, and Jeff Hussey, founder of F5 Networks. (Tempered Networks grew out of an earlier company, Asguard Networks, that Mattes formed in 2012 after leaving Boeing.)

The company uses a networking protocol to “orchestrate” components of industrial systems and limit communication to trusted entities only, Mattes said in this November 2014 Xconomy profile.

As part of the Series A funding, Ignition managing partner John Connors is joining Tempered’s board of directors.

Tempered Networks plans to use the funding to accelerate hiring. It has 29 employees and plans to have perhaps double that number by the end of the year.

Author: Benjamin Romano

Benjamin is the former Editor of Xconomy Seattle. He has covered the intersections of business, technology and the environment in the Pacific Northwest and beyond for more than a decade. At The Seattle Times he was the lead beat reporter covering Microsoft during Bill Gates’ transition from business to philanthropy. He also covered Seattle venture capital and biotech. Most recently, Benjamin followed the technology, finance and policies driving renewable energy development in the Western US for Recharge, a global trade publication. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.