The lights have flickered shut at IronNet, the once-promising network security company founded by former NSA director General Keith Alexander.
Bankrupt and out of financing options, IronNet said it would file for Chapter 7 protection while its assets are liquidated.
“Given the unavailability of additional sources of liquidity…IronNet ceased all activities of the company and its subsidiaries and terminated the remaining employees,” the Virginia company said in its latest SEC Form 8-K filing.
It is a remarkable end for the high-flying network security startup that launched in 2018 with $78 million in funding and ambitious plans to cash in on an expanding cybersecurity market.
With Alexander at the helm, IronNet raised in excess of $400 million and rolled out its IronDome collective defense system that promised automated and real-time sharing of threat data and analysis between participating energy companies.
In tandem, the company sold an IronDefense platform that provided behavioral threat detection, visibility, and risk prioritization capabilities to organizations in the financial and energy sectors.
The company would go public in a SPAC transaction but struggled to gain traction in a highly competitive market that includes major vendors like Cisco and Palo Alto Networks and a cadre of well-capitalized startups.
On September 29, the end officially came with a final note from IronNet: “The Company expects that no distributions would be available for stockholders in a Chapter 7 liquidation.”
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