Technology

Edera Raises $5M Seed Round to Introduce the World’s Only Secure-By-Design Kubernetes and AI Solution

Published

2 months ago

September 18, 2024

Using type 1 hypervisor technology, Edera offers isolation at the container level, changing the way containers run and making container escapes impossible once and for all Companies both large and small can plug Edera in seamlessly and are poised to save millions in cloud costs From an all-female founding team to a diverse group of investors and a surprising set of technologies, Edera is anything but the status quo

SEATTLE, Sept. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Edera, the world’s only secure-by-design Kubernetes and AI solution, today announced it has raised $5 million in a seed round led by 645 Ventures and Eniac Ventures with participation from FPV Ventures, Generationship, Precursor Ventures and Rosecliff Ventures. Angel investors include Joe Beda, Filippo Valsorda, Mandy Andress, Jeff Behl and Kleiner Perkins scout Nikitha Suryadevara, among others.

While Kubernetes turned 10 years-old earlier this year, running secure multi-tenancy workloads remains an unsolved problem that’s costing companies millions of dollars. Edera is introducing a diverse set of technologies with a diverse team of experts to solve what has been the decade’s defining enterprise security challenge.

Edera uses a type 1 hypervisor to offer isolation at the container level for the first time, enabling companies to realize the original promise of Kubernetes and to move quickly to run GPUs for emerging AI workloads. Instead of running containers in Linux namespaces, Edera’s platform treats a container like a virtual machine guest. There is no shared kernel state between containers, and a memory-safe Rust control plane further secures workloads. Edera can be used anywhere users run their containers (public cloud, private cloud and on-premise) and doesn’t require virtualization extensions or custom infrastructure. It’s simple, delivers peace of mind and saves companies millions in cloud costs.

“Real innovation is rare. It’s more than a new application or gadget. Real innovation is born inside the brains of amazing humans who see a better way to do things, who crack the code and solve the puzzle,” said Hadley Harris, cofounder and general partner at Eniac Ventures. “That’s what is happening at Edera. They’ve assessed hypervisor technologies and new memory-safe principles and the Rust programming language to actually solve one of the biggest security challenges of this era. We couldn’t be more excited to support this work.”

While most enterprises today are using Kubernetes in production, nearly 70 percent have delayed deployments due to security concerns. Nearly 90 percent of those companies have reported at least one Kubernetes or container incident in the last 12 months and half have lost revenue and customers due to security incidents.

The evolution of the cloud and Kubernetes has resulted in security regressions that the industry has accepted as the norm. But as container adoption continues to grow, tools continue to sprawl and security incidents skyrocket, the wasted engineering time and tremendous cloud expense has become untenable.

“While companies have struggled for a decade to secure their Kubernetes workloads using a patchwork of tools and procedures that have never really worked, the answer has been sitting in front of us all along,” said Alex Zenla, CTO and co-founder at Edera. “Our product is built on proven technologies and introduces a memory-safe Rust control plane to radically change the Kubernetes security landscape. We’re incredibly excited to share what we’ve been able to build with our customers and the industry at large.”

Innovative vision will transform enterprise security and save millions of dollars industry-wide

Kubernetes security solutions today focus on detection after an attack occurs. Customers are layering tool upon tool, creating complexity on top of complexity with no real assurances in place. Edera runs containers securely from the start, eliminating the need for expensive, largely ineffective tools, and its paravirtualization mode removes the need for hardware virtualization support meaning you can run secure containers anywhere.

Edera is introducing the world’s only secure-by-design Kubernetes and AI solution to help security engineers eliminate vulnerability exploitation across clusters even before a vulnerability is reported and can become incidents that show up on a dashboard and to help CISOs gain the confidence that their organization won’t be the next one hit by attackers and splashed across social media. And by isolating critical infrastructure from container escapes, customers can finally be confident running real multi-tenancy environments, saving tens of millions of dollars in cloud costs.

“The original design goals for Kubernetes were for ‘soft’ multi-tenancy where there was a level of trust between users of a cluster. But as Kubernetes has found its way into more domains, the need for stronger security protections has become apparent,” said Joe Beda, angel investor in Edera and co-creator of Kubernetes. “Edera fills this gap by using virtualization to both reduce risks and, ultimately, reduce costs. It allows Kubernetes to go places it has never gone before!”

From an all-female founding team to a diverse group of investors and a surprising set of technologies, Edera is anything but the status quo.

Edera is founded by three female-identifying individuals:

Ariadne Conill, co-founder & Distinguished Engineer, creator of Wolfi and maintainer for Alpine LinuxEmily Long, co-founder and CEO, former COO at Chainguard and Anchore, among othersAlex Zenla, co-founder and CTO, an early contributor to the Dart programming language at 13 years-old and founder of the DSA IoT platform at 14

Emily Long comes from an operations and culture background, bringing to the position of CEO a people-centric view that is often lacking in early-stage startups. Eniac Ventures came in as a lead investor, in part, because of this background. Skills like recruitment, setting culture and conflict resolution are incredibly powerful in the earliest stages of a company and are not often skills that can be taught. This is in direct contrast to traditional VC-funded startups in which the CEO is usually a technologist that is believed can be “trained up” on people and leadership skills. History tells us that hardly ever works.

“We want to build something different at Edera, not just in the technology we deliver but in the way we build and deliver it. That means creating an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive and contribute to our mission in a very direct way,” said Emily Long, CEO and co-founder at Edera. “We know diverse teams deliver better outcomes, and we’re here to represent that however many times it takes.”

With women, people of color and LGBTQIA+ among their founders and principals, 645 Ventures and Eniac Ventures round out Edera’s intentional focus on building a team that values diversity of thought, lived experience and technology backgrounds. The $5 million seed round will be used to build out the Edera team while supporting new customers and partnerships.

“What’s most exciting about Edera is the power of the technology itself. It can not only solve immediate, long-standing pain points like container escapes but can also be a game changer in the increasingly complex and changing world of securing and managing AI workloads,” said Mendy Yang, senior associate at 645 Ventures. “We are so excited to work with the team to build something truly revolutionary.”

Edera Protect Kubernetes is available to try now. Edera Protect AI is in development and accepting design partners. Edera also hosts Krata, a set of open source components written in Rust for secure hypervisor technologies. For more information, please visit: https://edera.dev/

About Edera
Edera is changing the way containers are run and secured, making isolation a reality and fundamentally transforming computing in the process. It is an enterprise infrastructure company that delivers container isolation for the first time by using a type 1 hypervisor and a memory-safe Rust control plane. It enables security engineers to achieve multi-tenancy Kubernetes and AI workload security in a way that is secure from the start, simple and cost-effective. Edera is female founded and places the same value on soft and hard skills to create a balanced and innovative company and considers diversity of experience and thought a non-negotiable. For more information, please visit: https://edera.dev/

Media Contact for Edera
Jennifer Cloer
503-867-2304
jennifer@storychangesculture.com

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Technology

/C O R R E C T I O N — Natural Resources Canada/

Published

25 minutes ago

November 14, 2024

In the news release, Canada Invests in Climate Change Adaptation to Keep Communities Safe in British Columbia and Across Canada, issued 14-Nov-2024 by Natural Resources Canada over PR Newswire, we are advised by the company that the 18th paragraph has been added to the release. The complete, corrected release follows:

Canada Invests in Climate Change Adaptation to Keep Communities Safe in British Columbia and Across Canada

COQUITLAM, BC, Nov. 14, 2024 /CNW/ – Working together to reduce risks from the changing climate will help keep Canadians safer and healthier. Acting now will help improve long-term resilience and reduce costs associated with the increasing frequency of extreme weather events in Canada, including higher grocery prices, insurance premiums and local taxes to cover the costs of disaster recovery and damage.

Across the country, the impacts of climate change are becoming more severe and more frequent with extreme events like floods, wildfires and heatwaves on the rise. Gradual changes, like thawing permafrost in the north and rising sea levels in coastal regions, are also affecting the safety of our communities and quality of life. To protect our communities from the worst economic and environmental impacts of climate change, we must continue to prepare for the changes that are coming by investing in community resilience. This will not only support the safety of Canadians but also reinforce the ability of communities to recover from extreme weather events.

Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson announced over $7 million in funding for 12 projects in British Columbia or with a national reach under Natural Resources Canada’s Climate Change Adaptation Program (CCAP) and the Climate-Resilient Coastal Communities (CRCC) Program. These projects will aim to help regions and sectors in B.C. and across Canada adapt to a changing climate by developing, improving and delivering strategies, tools and resources that address climate change risks and adaptation gaps, and to support the implementation of climate change adaptation and resilience actions.

The funding announced today comes from a total investment of $39.5 million for 53 projects through the CCAP and the the CRCC Program to reduce climate change risks and build more resilient communities across the country in support of the National Adaptation Strategy (NAS). Details on additional projects supported by this investment will be announced in the near future.

The steps we take now will protect our communities, our livelihoods, our environment and our economy. We are actively investing in climate change adaptation to proactively support long-term, community-led resilience and adaptation projects. It is essential, now more than ever, that we come together to help communities stay strong in the face of the current and future impacts of climate change.

Quotes

“The impacts associated with climate change, including atmospheric rivers here in British Columbia, are being felt right now. That is why this federal government is acting now to help our communities and our economy prepare and protect themselves from the threat of climate change. Today’s announcement of 12 projects based in British Columbia under two funding programs supports the vital long-term, community-based work to keep people safe now and into the future.”

The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources

“Municipalities are on the front lines of climate change, and they know best what local challenges — and solutions — are affecting local neighbourhoods, transportation and businesses. The 12 projects under the CCAP and CRCC program will help build stronger, more livable communities, providing safety and security in the face of a changing climate. With smart investments, forward planning and active collaboration, we can support communities that are already feeling the impacts of climate change and help make them more sustainable and prosperous for generations to come.”

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault
Minister of Environment and Climate Change

“Climate change is impacting communities in British Columbia and across Canada. Now is the time to work together and build climate change responses that address current and future problems. By taking the necessary steps today to adapt and build resiliency, we can make more-informed decisions to prepare for and to respond and adapt to climate change impacts.”

Ron McKinnon
Member of Parliament for Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam

“Coastal flooding and rising seas are not exclusively localized issues. Coordinating between First Nations, municipalities and other authorities in the region can increase the effectiveness of coastal resilience actions and help to pool resources. Thanks to the support from the CRCC Program, our B.C. Southern Coastal Regional Climate Collaborative project will help coordinate approaches to address rising sea levels and coastal flooding and implement key regional actions to build the foundation for long-term coastal resilience outcomes across the Pacific North Shore and Sunshine Coast region.”

Ewa Jackson
Managing Director, ICLEI Canada

“Clean energy systems are the future — and this initiative is helping First Nations communities and local governments to push forward on micro-hydro, solar, wind and other renewables that strengthen B.C.’s power grid. Planning infrastructure to withstand severe weather and other impacts of climate change is now a key challenge in building a clean energy future, and we’re happy to help bring together local leaders and experts to meet that challenge.”

David Marshall
Chief Executive Officer, Fraser Basin Council

“Across British Columbia, small, rural and remote communities work every day with extremely limited resources to address the current and anticipated impacts of climate change, often off the side of their desk amidst many competing priorities. As a result of this funding, the CoNext Climate Preparedness Hub will provide direct support to local governments, First Nation governments and their partners to build understanding of the challenges and options for addressing climate impacts and translate this knowledge into action within their organizations and communities.”

Erica Crawford
CoNext Project Lead and Principal, HeronBridge Consulting

“Climate adaptation is a new but urgent challenge, and leading practices are just beginning to emerge. Our CRCC project funded direct conversations with Canadian practitioners to identify the challenges and opportunities they face today, and this learning will inform similar outreach in Oceania, Europe, the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia. We look forward to bringing this snapshot of global adaptation practice today back to Canada to help drive innovation and solutions to this shared threat.”

Dr. Glynis Lough
Global Director of PEERS and Affiliate at the Aspen Global Change Institute

“The far-reaching impacts of recent wildfires — massive emissions and disrupted communities — demand urgent action. This contribution from Natural Resources Canada will foster collaboration across sectors, First Nations and impacted communities in ways that accelerate wildfire adaptation, create jobs, enhance ecosystem resilience and increase public safety.”

Robin Prest
Program Director, Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue

“Engineers and Geoscientists BC welcomes this investment that is intended to help protect Canadians from the risks of climate change. In collaboration with the Climate Risk Institute, we are proud to lead the development of a national climate resiliency training program for building sector professionals. Supported by Natural Resources Canada through the CCAP, the training program aims to empower engineers, and other professionals, with the skills and knowledge needed to design and retrofit buildings to help communities become more resilient to the risks associated with a changing climate.”

Heidi Yang, P.Eng.
Chief Executive Officer, Engineers and Geoscientists BC

“The Regional District of Nanaimo is grateful for this generous grant, which we will use to develop an inclusive and collaborative coastal climate adaptation strategy in our region. This strategy will build on the critical work we are already undertaking to prepare for, and respond to, impacts we are seeing on our coast.”

Vanessa Craig
Chair, Regional District of Nanaimo

“In recent years, climate-related impacts have significantly disrupted supply chains. With this funding to develop a climate adaptation plan for the Port of Vancouver, we will work collaboratively with First Nations and stakeholders to identify key climate risks and priority actions needed to enhance port infrastructure and supply chain resiliency. This will help strengthen our position to facilitate Canada’s trade reliably, now and into the future.”

Jennifer Natland
Vice President, Properties and Environment, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority

“Nature-based solutions, like restoring wetlands and adopting green infrastructure approaches, offer powerful ways for Canadian communities to adapt to climate change while unlocking significant social, economic and environmental co-benefits. Yet a lack of understanding of the monetary benefits of these multi-solving solutions means they remain underutilized by local governments. With the support of Natural Resources Canada and our partners, ESSA and All One Sky Foundation are developing a toolkit with clear economic data and guidance to help communities confidently invest in these sustainable, cost-effective strategies to multiple local problems.”

Jimena Eyzaguirre
Climate Change Adaptation Practice Lead, ESSA Technologies Ltd.

“In 2022, we brought together leadership and staff from First Nations and local governments and local agriculture sectors as well as federal and provincial representatives to collectively discuss what a Build Back Better, Together process would look like and to explore how we could work together more effectively in our shared landscape. This funding will support subsequent dialogues as we work toward developing a unified plan for how to maximize resilience in the Lower Mainland.”

Tribal Chief Tyrone McNeil
Chair of the Emergency Planning Secretariat

Quick Facts

The National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) provides a whole-of-society plan focused on protecting Canadian lives and building more resilient and prosperous communities. Canada released its first NAS on June 27, 2023. Achieving the objectives of the NAS requires whole-of-society action. The Government of Canada is working with provinces, territories, Indigenous partners and the private sector to develop innovative technical, financial and operational solutions that will support adaptation action by communities across the economy.Every $1 spent on climate adaptation measures saves up to $15 in terms of the long-term costs involved in mitigating climate change and extreme weather events.Since 2015, the Government of Canada has invested more than $6.5 billion in adaptation efforts, including $2.1 billion since fall 2022 to implement the NAS and other adaptation-related activities.The CCAP will help Canada’s regions and sectors to adapt to a changing climate. More specifically, the CCAP aims to:support decision-makers in identifying and implementing adaptation actions;enhance adaptation knowledge and skills among Canada’s workforce; andincrease access to climate change adaptation tools and resources.The CRCC Program supports regional-scale pilot projects on Canada’s three marine coasts —Atlantic, Pacific and North — and in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence region. The program aims to enhance the climate resilience of coastal communities and businesses and to accelerate adaptation to reduce climate change risks and coordinate innovative actions.

Technology

András Szakonyi named CEO of Ferrovial’s Digital Infrastructure Division

Published

25 minutes ago

November 14, 2024

This division targets the high-growth data center market, building on a decade of successful projects for industry leaders

AMSTERDAM, Nov. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Ferrovial, a leading global infrastructure company, announces the appointment of András Szakonyi as CEO of Digital Infrastructure. Szakonyi brings deep sector expertise, both in data centers and sustainable AI cloud solutions. As divisional CEO, he will strengthen and expand Ferrovial’s presence in a growing sector where it has been developing projects for multinational leaders for more than 10 years in Europe and the Americas.

“Ferrovial brings distinctive expertise in complex data center construction projects. Our proven track record of engineering excellence and value creation positions us well to expand our role as a global investor and developer of digital infrastructure. We welcome András’s leadership in driving our continued success and innovation in this strategic area,” said Ignacio Madridejos, CEO of Ferrovial.

The Digital Infrastructure Division will identify investment opportunities to develop high-value projects in this sector.

András Szakonyi holds an MBA in Finance and Economics from Corvinus University in Budapest and is a graduate of INSEAD Business School’s LEAP (Leadership Excellence through Awareness and Practice Program).

During his extensive professional experience, he has held various international leadership positions. He started his career as a finance professional at General Electric, where he spent six years leading different finance functions in the United States.

Afterward, he spent 21 years in multiple senior leadership roles at Iron Mountain (IRM), a global listed B2B service company based in Boston focusing on data centers and information management services. He played a key role in building Iron Mountain’s data center business in his role as global COO.

Since 2020, he has been a member of the Supervisory Board and Audit Committee of Magyar Telekom (Subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom), a leading Hungarian information and communications technology company.

About Ferrovial

Ferrovial is one of the world’s leading infrastructure companies. The Company operates in more than 15 countries and has a workforce of over 24,000 worldwide. Ferrovial is triple listed on Euronext Amsterdam, the Spanish Stock Exchanges and Nasdaq and is a member of Spain’s blue-chip IBEX 35 index. It is part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good, and all its operations are conducted in compliance with the principles of the UN Global Compact, which the Company adopted in 2002.

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SOURCE Ferrovial

Technology

2025 Fortune Global Forum to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Published

25 minutes ago

November 14, 2024

Fortune will also hold a Most Powerful Women gathering in Riyadh next year

NEW YORK, Nov. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Fortune announced that its 2025 Fortune Global Forum, the premier gathering of CEOs and other leaders of the world’s largest multinational companies, will convene in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, next December. In the spring, Fortune will also hold in Riyadh its first-ever Fortune Most Powerful Women event in the Middle East, an extension of the annual Most Powerful Women summit in the U.S.

This marks the first time since its inception in 1995 that the Fortune Global Forum has taken place in the Saudi capital. The Forum and the MPW event are being held in partnership with the Saudi Conventions and Exhibitions General Authority.

“For 30 years, Fortune has been proud to bring the Fortune Global Forum to the frontiers of the business world,” Anastasia Nyrkovskaya, CEO of Fortune, said. “Saudi Arabia is one of those important frontiers. We look forward to connecting leaders of companies across industries from the East and West in Riyadh, an ideal location for our 2025 Fortune Global Forum.”

The Forum has historically been held in major cities at the forefront of global business, including Singapore, Barcelona, Guangzhou, New Delhi, Rome, Hong Kong, Paris, Abu Dhabi, Cape Town, and San Francisco. Earlier this week in New York City, the 2024 Fortune Global Forum included speakers such as former U.S. CIA Directors Mike Pompeo and Leon Panetta; Adena Friedman, Chair and CEO, Nasdaq; Gita Gopinath, First Managing Director, International Monetary Fund; Josh Kushner, Founder and CEO, Thrive Capital; Rob Manfred and Adam Silver, the commissioners of Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association, respectively; John Stankey, CEO, AT&T; Boris Johnson, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Brooke Shields, actor, New York Times bestselling author, and founder of Commence; H.E. Fahd bin Abdulmohsan Al-Rasheed, Advisor, General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, and Chair, Saudi Conventions and Exhibitions General Authority; Tom Brady, seven-time world champion; and Wynton Marsalis, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the site of the Forum, and more.

The Fortune Global Forum fosters impactful discussions among leading executives and other top figures in business, government, and culture and offers valuable insights into international business strategies.

Fortune’s annual Most Powerful Women Summit convenes women leaders from Fortune 500 companies and trailblazers from government, philanthropy, education, sports, and the arts for inspiring conversations, collaboration, and networking. The Riyadh MPW conference will draw women globally who are making significant contributions to business and economic growth.

About Fortune:
Fortune is a global multi-platform media company built on a legacy of trusted, award-winning reporting and information for those who want to make business better. Independently owned, Fortune tells the stories of the world’s biggest companies and their leaders as well as a new generation of innovators who are moving business forward. Digitally and in print, Fortune measures corporate performance through rigorous benchmarks, and holds companies accountable, in regions around the world. Its iconic rankings include Fortune 500, Fortune Global 500, Most Powerful Women, and World’s Most Admired Companies. Fortune builds world-class communities by convening industry thought leaders for exclusive summits and conferences, including the Fortune Global Forum, Brainstorm Tech, Fortune Most Powerful Women. For more information, visit fortune.com.

Media Contacts:
Patrick Reilly
Fortune
Patrick.Reilly@fortune.com

Chelsea Hudson
Fortune
Chelsea.Hudson@fortune.com

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