Connected vehicle security startup Karamba Security Ltd. today said it has raised $10 million in additional capital via Silicon Valley-based venture debt firm Western Technology Investment.

The money will be used to fund the acquisition of companies and technology assets to accelerate Karamba’s Autonomous Security portfolio. Last May, the company raised $12 million in a venture capital round.

Founded in 2015 with offices in Israel, Michigan and Japan, Karamba offers automotive cybersecurity solutions for connected vehicles, including cars with smart features, semiautonomous features and fully autonomous vehicle platforms.

The company’s main product is Carwall, software that generates policies based on factory settings embedded into a vehicle’s electronic control unit’s firmware to prevent any exploit attempts.

Karamba Security approaches connected car security in ways that would sound familiar to the DevOps and information technology security professions, bringing many similar concepts to the vehicle systems world. Carwall’s core policy enforcement mechanism is complemented by a number of other security features designed to block potential attack vectors.

The software places strict restrictions on any external devices that are attached to a vehicle and regulates engine control units’ internet connections to prevent remote exploitation. The last feature is said to block unauthorized access attempts while letting through updates from the manufacturer.

A more recent product offered by the company, called SafeCAN, offers security software that authenticates and hardens in-car network communications, automatically establishing trusted communication between ECUs to ensure only legitimate commands are received by the car’s safety systems.

Karamba said it has engaged with 17 automotive manufacturers and tier-1 suppliers. Its portfolio of products integrates with a variety of platforms, including ARM, Intel, PowerPC and Infineon on the chip level and QNX, Linux and various RTOS and AUTOSAR platforms on the operating system and scheduler level.

“This new funding provides a line of capital we can use as needed for inorganic growth to expand Karamba’s solutions suite across the rapidly evolving automotive landscape,” Ami Dotan, Karamba’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Including the new funding, Karamba has raised $27 million to date. Previous investors include Paladin Capital Group, Fontinalis Partners, YL Ventures, Presidio Ventures, Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures and Asgent.

Image: Karamba Security