Corellium secures $25M Series A to help companies keep their digital devices safe

Corellium, a South Florida startup that enables companies and developers to test the resilience of mobile apps and devices, has just announced a $25 million Series A fundraise. Washington D.C.-based Paladin Capital Group led the funding round, which also included participation from the investment arm of Silicon Valley tech giant Cisco.

The startup, based in Boynton Beach, focuses on devices using Arm processors. You may be familiar with their Intel-powered cousins (think: “Intel inside!”), but these days you’re much more likely to interact with Arm processors on a daily basis. Most new mobile and IoT devices come equipped with Arm chips.

Corellium has created a platform that emulates Arm-powered devices. Programmers, Fortune 500 companies, journalists, and more can use Corellium’s testing environments to quickly and effectively ensure that their devices are safe.

The company reports that this funding will catalyze their R&D activities and help accelerate their go-to-market strategy and partnership initiatives. 

In a statement, Amanda Gorton, Corellium’s co-founder and CEO, praised her team’s rapid growth: “In only a few years, Corellium has established itself as a leader for research, development, and security testing of Arm-powered devices and apps – from mobile to IoT. It’s a testament not only to the strength of our technology, but the eagerness of the market to change the way this important work is done.”

Amanda Gorton, CEO of Corellium

This achievement has been hard won. The startup, founded in 2018, originally gained traction in the security world because they offered a virtual way to test iOS without needing to buy new devices. Simply put, Apple wasn’t pleased. The Cupertino company filed a copyright lawsuit against Corellium in 2019. The dispute was settled in August 2021, just a week before a scheduled trial.

In an email interview with Refresh Miami, Gorton called South Florida “an ideal place for a tech startup” thanks to our region’s abundant talent, lower cost of living compared to Silicon Valley, and high quality of life. “South Florida is also a fantastic place to live, with a friendly, down-to-earth, easygoing culture,” she continued. “It’s warm and sunny, and you can work from the beach in December if you want. That fit with the kind of culture we wanted to promote within our company: fun, friendly, and vibrant.”

Corellium is currently hiring for remote roles in two departments: engineering and design/product. “We’re also open to sponsoring relocation for anyone looking to take advantage of everything South Florida has to offer,” noted Gorton.

As Soo Jin Park, senior manager at Cisco Investments, explained in a Forbes post that Corellium provides a cost-efficient way for developers and security researchers to build testing environments.

“Tasks as varied as building a new robot, testing the security of a mobile app, or analyzing malware still rely primarily on physical devices or emulators,” Park said in the post. “Corellium, on the other hand, empowers software developers to build, test and secure everything within the software life cycle using Arm-native virtualization in lieu of outdated physical devices or slow, inaccurate emulators.”

Corellium also announced that it has appointed Mark Templeton, former CEO of Fort Lauderdale-based cloud computing company Citrix, to its Board of Directors. Previously, Gorton sold Delray Beach startup Virtual to Citrix and joined their Strategic Alliances team.

This funding news is part of a larger trend of cybersecurity innovation in South Florida. Just this week, Miami-based ByteChek landed $3 million to grow its SOC 2 compliance platform. Earlier this year, the Levan Center opened the doors on its military-grade cybersecurity range. Both the Manny Medina-founded Cyxtera Technologies and its spinout Appgate  have gone public this year through billion-dollar SPAC deals. And right down A1A from Corellium is the Boca Raton-based Techstrong Group, which runs DevOps.com, one of the top DevOps media websites with a strong focus on cybersecurity and DevSecOps. However, time will tell if South Florida becomes a true cybersecurity hub.

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Riley Kaminer