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Company · Cybersecurity
S21sec
S21sec is a European cybersecurity pure-play founded in 2000 in San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa) and later headquartered in Madrid/Navarra, offering advisory and GRC services, security architecture and integration, managed detection and response from its SOCs, threat intelligence and OT/industrial cybersecurity. It was Spain's first dedicated cybersecurity company and won a McKinsey Start-Up Award in 2000; majority-owned by Sonae IM (now Bright Pixel Capital) from 2014, it was merged with Excellium under the Maxive Cybersecurity holding and acquired by Thales in 2022 for an enterprise value of €120M. It is no longer an independent startup and the brand now operates as Thales S21sec.
Founded
2000
Founders
3
News
0
Rounds
0
Investors
4
SectorsCybersecurity, Managed Security Services, Threat Intelligence, Industrial/OT Security, IT Consulting
Start-up MapCybersecurity › Managed security & threat detection
Profile updated 12 Aug 2026
Founders
I
Igor Unanue
Co-founder and CTO
M
Miguel Fernández
Co-founder (deceased)
—
X
Xabier Mitxelena
Co-founder and former CEO (2000-2017)
Global models
No comparables on record yet.
Investors 4
B
Banco Guipuzcoano
SSodena (Sociedad de Desarrollo de Navarra)
www.sodena.com
SSonae IM (Bright Pixel Capital)
brpx.com
T
Telvent GIT
Funding rounds
No announced rounds on record.
News & media
No coverage on record yet.