News from ClearSky

This newsletter covers new financings, key milestones, and strategic developments regarding ClearSky and our portfolio companies.

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June 2024 Updates

ClearSky recently opened its new headquarters in downtown West Palm Beach and expanded internationally by opening a Tel Aviv office led by our new Venture Partner, Guy Nizan. Guy founded and was CEO of ClearSky portfolio company IntSights, a provider of customized threat intelligence from dark, clear and social sources which was acquired by Rapid7.

We also continue to build upon our strong network of advisors to aid our portfolio companies and provide fund-level strategy, sourcing and due diligence support. Within the last six months, we’ve added these advisors to our team:

Manuel Ebner
Former Country Executive for Switzerland of Bank of America

Aidan Kehoe
Former Founder and CEO of ClearSky portfolio company SKOUT (acquired by Barracuda Networks)

Mano Nazar
Former Chief Nuclear Officer of NextEra Energy

Philipp Rosler
Former German Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economics and Technology; former Volkswagen Board Member

Jan Vrins
Former Partner at Guidehouse leading the Global Sustainability Segment; former senior executive at Accenture

Market Outlook

We continue to be excited about the opportunities in energy transition and cybersecurity. We are seeing opportunities today for technologies that can reduce operational costs and efficiently improve existing infrastructure.

Our Recent Investments

ClearSky Co-Leads Ubicquia Financing

ClearSky co-led a convertible note round in Ubicquia alongside Hamilton Lane. Ubicquia is a provider of a platform for smart city and small cell deployments to municipalities, utilities, telecoms, and broadband service providers. Ubicquia leverages existing infrastructure to deploy smart lighting, smart grid and public safety products. Ubicquia is deployed in over 400 cities in the U.S., including 11 of the top 30 U.S. cities, and has several significant OEM partnerships across all its product lines.

ClearSky Leads ClimateTrade Financing

ClearSky led a convertible note round in ClimateTrade. ClimateTrade is a marketplace provider for carbon offsets and credits based on a blockchain platform which connects companies with verified carbon offset projects. ClimateTrade is seeing successful early data points with user growth in Spain and the UK and strong pipeline across technology, hospitality, banking and energy verticals.

ClearSky Participates in HUMAN Financing

ClearSky participated in a Goldman Sachs led preferred financing round in HUMAN. HUMAN provides collective protection against fraud and abuse across apps and websites, including bot fraud, account takeovers, automated account creation, and information scraping. In January 2024, HUMAN appointed Stu Solomon (former President of Recorded Future) as its new CEO. The former CEO, Tamer Hassan, transitioned to the role of Executive Chairman. (Read Press Release…)

ClearSky Participates in Inky Financing

ClearSky participated in a convertible note round in Inky. Inky is a developer of an advanced phishing prevention platform that uses machine learning to block brand forgeries, spear phishing and other email-borne threats. Inky continues to concentrate on selling through Managed Services Providers (MSPs), maximizing its market presence, and increasing conversion rates.

BigID Closes $60 Million Funding Round

BigID announced that it closed a $60 million growth funding round led by Riverwood Capital, bringing total capital raised to $320M. With this latest round of funding, BigID plans to accelerate both organic and inorganic expansion in AI data security and compliance. (Read Press Release…)

ClearSky Participates in Lasso Security Financing

ClearSky participated in a post-seed round of Lasso Security (warehoused for ClearSky Fund IV), a developer of a cybersecurity platform aimed at protecting businesses from emerging threats associated with using large language models and Generative AI platforms. We believe Lasso’s early entry into this large market, strength of its management team (former Mimecast, SAP with successful exit) and vendor-independent approach position it to become a leader in this space.

ClearSky Participates in Infogrid Financing

ClearSky participated in an equity and debt funding round in Infogrid. Infogrid is a developer of an infrastructure management platform designed to automate and optimize facilities and building management. Infogrid recently appointed Kate Henningsen (former co-founder and COO of Arcadia – community solar and energy data platform unicorn) as its new CEO. (Read Press Release…)

T-REX Acquired by Finsight

In April 2024, ClearSky portfolio company T-REX, a developer of an enterprise SaaS platform that provides valuation and risk analysis tools for alternative asset backed securities, was acquired in an asset deal by Finsight, a financial technology provider to global corporate issuers, investment banks and institutional investors. (Read Press Release…)

Portfolio Companies in the News

Renew Home Launched from Combination of OhmConnect and Google’s Nest Renew

Renew Home, North America’s largest residential virtual power plant (VPP), was launched out of the combination of OhmConnect and Google’s Nest Renew. Renew Home harnesses energy reduction from millions of homes into a VPP, enabling residents to lower utility bills while stabilizing the energy grid. (Read Press Release…)

Mainspring Energy is Awarded Prestigious IEEE Award

Mainspring Energy continues to be one of our most exciting and highest potential companies. In May 2024, Mainspring announced that it was awarded the IEEE Spectrum Emerging Technology of the Year Award for the company’s groundbreaking fuel-flexible power generator. (Read Press Release…)

Mainspring also announced a partnership with Schneider Electric to offer hybrid-energy technology combined with turnkey-design-build services. (Read Press Release…)

Mitiga Named Finalist in RSA Conference 2024 Innovation Sandbox

Mitiga was named as one of 10 finalists in the RSA Conference 2024 Innovation Sandbox contest. This prestigious contest has served as a platform for the most promising young cybersecurity companies and over the years, the finalists have collectively celebrated 80 acquisitions and received $13.5 billion in investments over the last 18 years. (Read Press Release…)

AppOmni Announces 116% Year-Over-Year Revenue Growth

AppOmni announced 116% year-over-year revenue growth for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2024. The company has continued to grow its customer base and now includes 25% of Fortune 100 companies. AppOmni has added additional technology capabilities to its platform and has protected more than 249 million SaaS users to date. (Read Press Release…)

Databricks Acquires Tabular

Databricks announced that it has agreed to acquire Tabular, a data management company founded by the creators of Apache Iceberg. The acquisition will bring together Apache Iceberg and Linux Foundation Delta Lake, the two leading open source lakehouse formats. (Read Press Release…)

Authentic8 Launches Silo Shield Program

Authentic8 launched the Silo Shield Program to enhance online security for high-risk communities such as journalists, activists, non-profit groups, and academics. Authentic8 is a cloud–based remote browser solution designed to isolate the end user’s IT environment from public internet code. (Read Press Release…)

Harness Acquires Split Software

Harness announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Split Software, a leading feature management and experimentation provider. Split Software will be integrated into the Harness platform to provide a single seamlessly integrated solution. (Read Press Release…)

Guardz is Awarded 2024 MSP Today Product of the Year Award

Guardz received the 2024 MSP Today Product of the Year Award for its AI-powered MSP cybersecurity platform, an AI-powered solution built for MSPs to secure Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs) with comprehensive protection against cyber threats. (Read Press Release…)

Guardz also entered into a strategic partnership with SentinelOne to collaborate on AI-powered cybersecurity technology advancements and go-to-market strategies. (Read Press Release…)

Industry News

U.S. Electric Utilities Brace for Surge in Power Demand from Data Centers

U.S. electric utilities predict a tidal wave of new demand from data centers powering technology like generative AI, with some power companies projecting electricity sales growth several times higher than estimates just months earlier. Nine of the top 10 U.S. electric utilities said data centers were a main source of customer growth, leading many to revise up capital expenditure plans and demand forecasts, according to a Reuters analysis of company earnings reports from the first three months of the year.

SEC Clarifies Intent of Cybersecurity Breach Disclosure Rules After Initial Filings

Cybersecurity breach reporting requirements adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission last year aren’t intended for voluntary disclosure of “immaterial” incidents, a senior agency official said in a recent statement. The rules require public companies to report a “material” cybersecurity incident to the SEC in an Item 1.05 Form 8-K within four days of determining the breach is material.

Thank you for your support and feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
The ClearSky Team