New Italian unicorn Exein rides the physical AI wave
Europe has a new unicorn: Italian startup Exein has just raised a $270 million funding round led by Headline at a $1.7 billion valuation on the promise of providing a cybersecurity layer for physical AI — an evolution of its initial focus on IoT. “The concept of Exein is that every device should be able to defend itself, regardless if they are connected to a secure network or not,” CEO Gianni Cuozzo told TechCrunch. The Rome-based company has been doubling down on this approach; its latest product, Photon, is a runtime security solution to prevent attacks at the kernel level of a device.
- ▪Europe has a new unicorn: Italian startup Exein has just raised a $270 million funding round led by Headline at a $1.7 billion valuation on the promise of providing a cybersecurity layer for physical AI — an evolution of its initial focus o
- ▪“The concept of Exein is that every device should be able to defend itself, regardless if they are connected to a secure network or not,” CEO Gianni Cuozzo told TechCrunch.
- ▪The Rome-based company has been doubling down on this approach; its latest product, Photon, is a runtime security solution to prevent attacks at the kernel level of a device.
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| Original publisher | TechCrunch |
| Canonical URL | https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/15/new-italian-unicorn-exein-rides-the-physical-ai-wave/ |
| Publication time | Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:19:38 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-09-15T12:21:52.421Z |
| Last seen | 2026-09-15T12:21:52.421Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Europe has a new unicorn: Italian startup Exein has just raised a $270 million funding round led by Headline at a $1.7 billion valuation on the promise of providing a cybersecurity layer for physical AI — an evolution of its initial focus on IoT. “The concept of Exein is that every device should be able to defend itself, regardless if they are connected to a secure network or not,” CEO Gianni Cuozzo told TechCrunch. The Rome-based company has been doubling down on this approach; its latest product, Photon, is a runtime security solution to prevent attacks at the kernel level of a device. This approach requires working in close partnership with manufacturers, and Exein says it has been doing so since its inception in 2018.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at TechCrunch.
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