Purdue Foundry invests in Senteon, a cybersecurity startup

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Senteon, a cybersecurity startup founded by Purdue University alumni, completed a round of seed funding that includes an investment from the Purdue Startup Fund. The fund is managed by the Purdue Foundry. Other investors are Valor Ventures, Lytical Ventures and SaaS Venture Capital.

Henry Zhang, co-founder of Senteon, said the company will use the funding to expand its cybersecurity technology to a full-scale, marketable solution. Senteon’s solution centers on end-point hardening. The process secures servers and workstations by enabling various security configurations and removing unused features to reduce the operating system’s attack surface.

“This round of funding also will assist us in executing our initial go-to-market strategy,” Zhang said.

Riley Gibb, director of business development at Purdue Foundry, said Senteon fits well into the Foundry’s portfolio of invested companies.

“The Foundry invests in Purdue-connected companies in several industrial sectors, including cybersecurity,” Gibb said. “These high-tech companies are either led by Purdue alumni, commercialize Purdue intellectual property or sometimes both.”

Senteon previously reported that Sean Higgins, co-founder and chief technology officer at Herjavec Group, joined the company as an adviser. He also is director of security and hosting services at AT&T Canada.

About Senteon

Senteon is a cybersecurity tool to help reduce your organization’s attack surface and increase security compliance through intelligent, preventive system hardening that bridges the gap between audit and remediation. We make hardening systems understandable and streamlined for small to midsize businesses and MSPs.

About Purdue Foundry

The Purdue Foundry is an entrepreneurship and commercialization hub whose professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. The Purdue Foundry is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. Contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org.

Writer: Steve Martin, sgmartin@prf.org

Sources: Riley Gibb, rtgibb@prf.org

Henry Zhang, hzhang@senteon.com