CISO Network
Back to Startup Corner
SeedIdentity & Access

IdentityForge

Zero-trust identity for OT and industrial control systems

$5.1MSeed Round
Founded 2023Houston, TX15 employeesEnergy Impact PartnersDragos Ventures+1 more

The Problem

OT environments run 20-year-old systems that can't support modern IAM agents. Shared credentials and no MFA are standard — creating catastrophic attack surfaces.

The Solution

Agentless zero-trust identity layer that sits in front of OT assets, enforces least-privilege access, and provides full audit trails without touching legacy systems.

Traction

8 energy sector deployments, 3 utility company pilots, $1.4M ARR

Target Customer

CISOs and OT security teams in energy, utilities, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure

Tech Stack

Agentless proxy architectureProtocol-aware identity engineNERC CIP compliance mapping

Tags

OT SecurityIdentityZero TrustCritical Infrastructure

Founder Spotlight

James Okafor

CEO & Co-Founder

Former ICS security lead at Chevron and Honeywell. Spent 12 years securing industrial control systems across energy, utilities, and manufacturing sectors.

View LinkedIn Profile

Currently Seeking

Series A, critical infrastructure partnerships, DOE grant programs

Connect with this Startup

Backed By

Energy Impact Partners
Dragos Ventures
Chevron Technology Ventures

More from Startup Corner

VaultEdge AI

Autonomous threat hunting for lean security teams

$4.2M

View Profile →

QuantumShield Labs

Post-quantum cryptography migration made simple

$3.8M

View Profile →

SupplyChain Sentinel

Continuous third-party risk intelligence, not point-in-time questionnaires

$1.8M

View Profile →

Startup Corner

Building Something That Solves a CISO's Problem?

Get in front of 10,000+ security leaders. Apply to be featured in the CISO Network Startup Corner.