Enel, Planven Entrepreneur Ventures and Nozomi Networks launch a cybersecurity alliance

Promoting innovation, sharing experiences in the field and raising awareness of the strategic importance of cybersecurity for critical infrastructures, the industry and information technology: these are the goals that Enel, Planven Entrepreneur Ventures and Nozomi Networks have set out to achieve in creating “Cyber Harbour”, an innovation laboratory that seeks to expand its outreach by also involving other companies, institutions and academic partners who are interested in working together to address these issues. The primary goal is to set up a center of excellence to promote awareness of these issues through projects, thematic challenges, lectures and conferences, and by taking an open and inclusive approach that encourages innovation, research and the creation of startups.

This initiative was presented at an event that was held today at the Lingotto building in Turin, which was attended by leading Italian cybersecurity experts. Participants in the event included Alessio Butti, Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers for technological innovation, Carlo Bozzoli, Enel’s Head of Global Digital Solutions, Rosario Bifulco and Giovanni Canetta Roeder, respectively Chairman and CEO of Planven Entrepreneur Ventures, Andrea Carcano and Moreno Carullo, founders of Nozomi Networks, as well as academic and business community representatives.

One of the goals of the Cyber Harbour is to get companies, investors, startups, universities, the research community and institutions involved in a joint, cross-cutting effort, in the belief that Italy can potentially become a leading player in the industry, reaching beyond national borders and setting the standard when it comes to expertise, know-how and innovation.

Enel is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global power and renewables markets.

At global level, it is the largest renewable private player, the foremost electricity distribution network player by number of grid customers served and the biggest retail operator by customer base. The Group is the worldwide demand response leader and the largest European utility by ordinary EBITDA ^[1].

Enel is present in 30 countries worldwide, producing energy with more than 88 GW of total capacity.  

Enel Grids, the Group’s global business line dedicated to the management of the electricity distribution service worldwide, delivers electricity through a network of more than 2 million kilometers to approximately 73 million end users. The Group brings energy to around 67 million homes and businesses. Enel’s renewables arm Enel Green Power has a total capacity of more than 59 GW and a generation mix that includes wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power, as well as energy storage facilities, installed in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.  Enel X Global Retail, Enel’s global business line dedicated to energy supply and management services, has a total capacity of 8.1 GW of demand response managed globally and has installed 76 MW of behind-the-meter storage capacity. In addition, Enel X Way is the Group’s company fully dedicated to electric mobility, managing around 22,500 public charging points and with over 90,000 private charging devices sold in 2022 all over the world.

^[1] Enel’s leadership in the different categories is defined by comparison with competitors’ FY2022 data. Fully state-owned operators are not included.

Planven Entrepreneur Ventures is a venture capital fund with headquarters in Zurich and offices in Tel Aviv, helmed by fellow Italians Giovanni Canetta Roeder and Rosario Bifulco. Established in 2018, it has a track record of investing in B2B software companies and its target sectors include Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Health Tech. The investment stage ranges from Seed to SeriesB, with a special focus on Europe, Israel and the United States. The fund has invested in various companies including Via and Bluevoyant and was the first institutional investor to believe in Nozomi Networks. Planven has more than $300 million in assets, which are invested in dozens of companies. CRDH Capital AG, the company that manages the Planven funds, is licensed by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) as a professional asset management company and is affiliated with the self-regulatory body of the AOOS – Swiss Anonymous Surveillance Society. Planven launched its first fund in 2018, with a $56 million endowment, and by the end of 2022 it recorded a three-fold appreciation of the invested capital (Money On Invested Capital), resulting in a capital gain of approximately $100 million for investors. Planven’s second fund, which was launched in 2021 with an endowment of approximately $86 million, has invested around $30 million to date, and 20% of the invested capital (Distributed to Paid-In Capital) has already been distributed. A few months ago, Planven launched an Opportunity Fund with the aim of investing in the best companies of its first fund with untapped potential for growth, considering the fact that these companies have a leading position with attractive and profitable business models. Aiming for $100 million, the fund has thus far collected around 70% from institutional investors such as banking foundations and pension funds as well as from a number of family offices focusing in particular on the area of innovation and new technologies.

Established by fellow Italians Andrea Carcano and Moreno Carullo, Nozomi Networks is a world-leading company specializing in cybersecurity for critical infrastructure, with headquarters in San Francisco and an R&D center in Mendrisio. The company has developed a real-time visibility product for managing cyber risk and improving the resilience of critical infrastructure and of industrial and government organizations. Nozomi Networks has installations worldwide and currently serves global market leaders in several industries, from the energy and oil sectors to the manufacturing and pharmaceutical sectors, from airports to railway networks, and from stadiums to shopping centers. By establishing an OTCyber Coalition, Nozomi Networks also maintains relations with the US government. Nozomi Networks recently presented two new solutions: Nozomi Arc™ – the industry’s first OT and IoT endpoint security sensor designed to exponentially speed time to full operational resiliency – and Vantage IQ™ – the industry’s first AI-based analysis and response engine designed to quickly address security gaps and resource limitations in mission-critical operational infrastructure. Vantage IQ™ is available as an add-on to Vantage, Nozomi Networks’ SaaS-based security management platform.