NetFoundry Expands Series A to Over $15M With Strategic Investment From Cisco Investments
NetFoundry, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based secure networking company, has successfully expanded its Series A funding round, securing significant backing to support its growth and technological development. The company announced that Cisco Investments, the corporate venture capital arm of Cisco Systems, has joined its Series A round as a strategic investor, bringing the total raised to more than $15 million. The Series A was originally led by SYN Ventures, a cybersecurity-focused venture capital firm, which committed $12 million earlier in the year.
NetFoundry’s platform delivers a zero-trust, identity-first networking model that embeds security and policy directly into application connectivity, enabling secure sessions without reliance on traditional networking infrastructure such as MPLS, VPNs or standalone firewalls. This model has attracted enterprise customers across sectors, with the company reporting that its technology supports over one billion secure sessions per month and is used by major financial institutions and global enterprises to secure critical workflows across diverse environments.
The participation of Cisco Investments marks a strategic vote of confidence in NetFoundry’s vision for “secure-by-design” networking. Cisco Investments, based in San Jose, California, has a history of backing early-stage companies in areas that complement Cisco’s core networking and security businesses. With its global reach and deep market expertise, Cisco Investments is expected to help NetFoundry accelerate enterprise adoption of its platform and expand its footprint in key markets.
In comments accompanying the announcement, NetFoundry co-founder and CEO Galeal Zino emphasized the importance of embedding identity and policy at the network layer to simplify secure connectivity for modern distributed applications. According to Zino, this approach reduces complexity for IT teams while strengthening security posture across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The company aims to use the newly raised capital to accelerate product development, expand go-to-market efforts and grow its global customer base.
Jay Leek, founder and managing director of SYN Ventures, highlighted the continued momentum NetFoundry has maintained since its Series A. SYN Ventures, headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, focuses on early-stage cybersecurity investments and has backed several security innovators. The firm’s continued support reflects its belief in NetFoundry’s potential to redefine how enterprises think about secure networking in an increasingly digital and AI-driven world.
Cisco Investments’ involvement also reflects broader industry trends, as enterprises seek networking solutions that can better address the challenges of hybrid work environments, cloud migration, and edge computing. By partnering with startups such as NetFoundry, Cisco Investments aims to remain at the forefront of secure, application-centric networking innovations that complement traditional infrastructure offerings. This strategic alignment could benefit both companies as they pursue growth in a competitive landscape where secure, software-defined networking is becoming increasingly essential.
NetFoundry’s journey to this funding milestone began with its Series A launch earlier in 2025, when SYN Ventures announced its $12 million lead investment. That investment helped catalyze NetFoundry’s transition from early-stage development to broader market engagement, allowing the company to strengthen its platform and attract enterprise customers seeking scalable, secure connectivity solutions. With the addition of Cisco Investments, the company now enters a new chapter aimed at accelerating innovation and global expansion.
In addition to its secure networking platform, NetFoundry is known for creating and maintaining OpenZiti, an open-source project that enables developers to integrate zero-trust networking directly into applications. This developer-centric strategy has helped broaden the company’s reach beyond traditional enterprise IT and into software ecosystems where secure connectivity is built directly into products and services.
As NetFoundry moves forward with its expanded funding, the company is positioned to capitalize on rising demand for secure-by-design networking solutions that align with evolving enterprise priorities. With backing from both SYN Ventures and Cisco Investments, NetFoundry aims to scale its platform and reinforce its role as a key innovator in the future of enterprise connectivity.
