Spain-based telecommunications firm Telefónica launched a cybersecurity-focused investment vehicle called Telefónica Tech Ventures yesterday.
Telefónica Tech Ventures expects to provide funding for 15 cybersecurity technology developers over the next three years, investing up to €6m ($7m) per deal at series A to C stage. Follow-on funding will be available for the better performing recipients.
The corporate already makes corporate venturing investments out of Telefónica Innovation Ventures and Wayra, the innovation hub that operates in both its home country and in Latin America, and the new vehicle will begin with nine companies already in its portfolio.
The unit will be overseen by a staff from Telefónica Innovation Ventures and Telefónica’s cybersecurity subsidiary, ElevenPaths. It has not disclosed the portfolio companies transferred over but they likely include Nozomi Networks, Blueliv and 4iQ.
Chema Alonso, Telefónica’s chief digital consumer officer and chairman of ElevenPaths, said: “Since we created ElevenPaths eight years ago we’ve remained close to the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the hacking community and this new vehicle will enable us to get even closer.
“It will be an opportunity for them not only to have Telefónica as an investor but also to turn us into a customer or even a business partner, thus providing them with the chance to develop their projects around the world.”
