Cybersecurity Firm Launches From UNB with $500,000 in Equity Funding
FREDERICTON – Cybersecurity company Beauceron Security has announced it has received more than $500,000 in equity funding from private and public investors.
At a press conference at University of New Brunswick (UNB), Beauceron executives and partners gathered with the startup community to officially launch the company and announce the investment led by East Valley Ventures and Mariner Partners that included $150,000 from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF).
Beauceron has attracted 11 Canadian and American clients as early adopters in higher education, information technology, manufacturing and government, including UNB, the City of Fredericton, The Schulich School of Business at York University, Bulletproof Solutions and Gaming Labs International.
“The city is not immune to cyber attack and cybersecurity issues,” Fredericton Mayor Mike O’Brien said. “We’ve had other companies come and do risk assessments on our behalf but the innovative technology wasn’t really there until Beauceron came along. They’re going to be a wonderful partner … to solving these things.”
Going forward, Beauceron will be working with their new customers in New Brunswick, and into Ontario, Western Canada, and the U.S. They’ll be partnering with Accreon, Mariner Partners and Bulletproof Solutions to help bring their product to market.
“Right away we knew we had to be an early adopter, an early customer of this to really try it out and understand how it was going to work so we could bring it to our clients. It’s a phenomenal opportunity. It’s a phenomenal product,” Bulletproof Solutions Inc. COO Jeff Shaw said.
Beauceron CEO David Shipley, who left his position as director of strategic initiatives and information technology services earlier this month at UNB, says the company was founded in the fall of 2015 as a new approach to cyber risk and cybersecurity at UNB.
Shipley said Beauceron is the first of the initial companies part of the program to close a funding round and start full-time operations.
“It’s the first cybersecurity company to come from UNB staff since [Q1 Labs] about a decade ago and it’s already showing some really nice and promising early successes,” Shipley said.
“It’s about for us turning people and organizations and cultures from the source of the exploits. People think cybersecurity is about technology, part of the story. The bigger part is about people, so turning them from the sheep, the flock into the defenders of the organization, into the sheepdogs.”
In December 2016, Beauceron was accepted into the inaugural cohort of Energia Ventures, a UNB-based, startup accelerator in the J. Herbert Smith Technology Management and Entrepreneurship Centre (TME).
“Energia helps startup firms in energy, clean tech, smart grid and cybersecurity,” said Dhirendra Shukla, chair of TME and professor of engineering at UNB. “We help with initial funding, mentorship, refining plans and developing product solutions to prepare startups for further investment. Beauceron is the first of Energia’s initial cohort to close a first round of investment and we’re proud of the success they’ve seen so far.”