Exein raises $270M at $1.7B valuation to secure physical AI devices

Europe has a new unicorn. Italian startup Exein has raised $270 million at a $1.7 billion valuation to build a cybersecurity layer for what it calls physical AI — machines such as robots, drones and autonomous vehicles that run AI models on the edge. According to TechCrunch, the round was led by Headline and was significantly oversubscribed.

From IoT defense to physical AI

The Rome-based company, founded in 2018, began with IoT security and has widened its scope as AI spreads into hardware. CEO Gianni Cuozzo told TechCrunch that Exein's core idea is that "every device should be able to defend itself, regardless if they are connected to a secure network or not."

That principle is embodied in its latest product, Photon, a runtime security tool designed to stop attacks at the kernel level of a device. Delivering this required embedding with the supply chain from the start: Exein has worked directly with OEMs and silicon vendors since its inception, a bet on the continued growth of connected devices that Cuozzo says has paid off.

The company claims more than 2 billion connected devices are protected by its technology, across sectors where a breach could be crippling — aerospace, industrial automation, automotive manufacturing, energy, healthcare and semiconductors. Exein expects the rise of physical AI to sustain that growth, since robots, drones, self-driving cars, sensors and smart appliances rely on the same supply chain the company already serves.

Machine-speed attacks and a foundational model

The funding lands against a shifting threat landscape. Cuozzo argues that AI has amplified attackers' capabilities, helped by open-source models that can run without guardrails, making it cheaper and easier to target physical devices in new ways.

Exein says it has already recorded a rise in what Cuozzo terms "machine-speed attacks," and its answer is to build a foundational model for physical AI security. The company is currently training it on machine data and telemetrics, with a target of having it ready in the first quarter of 2027.

Where the money goes

The valuation marks a steep climb. According to TechCrunch, Exein's valuation has increased thirty-fold since its Series B roughly two years ago, and more than doubled since it raised equity and debt in December 2025, following a Series C earlier that year.

The fresh capital is earmarked for acquisitions to round out the product portfolio, and for hiring to speed up expansion in the United States and Asia Pacific — the latter already accounts for half of Exein's revenue. Cuozzo acknowledged that operating across three continents has been the company's main challenge, but says the effort has paid off, with the business "growing 400% year on year."

A regulatory tailwind may help sustain that pace. The European Union's Cyber Resilience Act saw its reporting obligations take effect the week before the TechCrunch report, and the Act comes into full force in December 2027, obliging manufacturers to ensure digital products are protected against cyber threats.

Why it matters

Exein's raise signals where security spending is heading as AI moves from chatbots into machines that act in the physical world. Robots, vehicles and industrial equipment running models on the edge present an attack surface that conventional network-centric security does not cover, and a breach there can have physical, not just digital, consequences.

It is also a notable data point for Europe's startup ecosystem: a $1.7 billion valuation for a Rome-based deep-tech company in a strategic sector, at a moment when the EU's Cyber Resilience Act is about to turn device security from good practice into legal obligation. If the regulation forces manufacturers to act at scale, companies positioned inside the hardware supply chain — as Exein claims to be — stand to benefit directly.