Finnish Startup Raises $1.3M to Automate IoT Cybersecurity Testing

Jan de Vries · 2026-03-31

You know how everything's connected these days? Your thermostat, your fridge, even your car. It's convenient, sure. But it also opens up a whole new world of risks. That's exactly what a Finnish startup called Test of Things is tackling head-on. They just secured a $1.3 million pre-Seed funding round. That's a big vote of confidence for a company that only started this year. The goal? To make cybersecurity for the Internet of Things (IoT) something that's actually manageable, not a nightmare. ### The Problem With Today's IoT Security Here's the thing. When a company builds a smart device, they have to make sure it's secure before it hits the market. The problem is, the current way of doing that is a mess. It's mostly manual work done by expensive experts. It's slow, it doesn't scale, and it's incredibly costly. Think about it. The market is flooded with new connected products every single day. The old, hands-on approach just can't keep up. And every single unsecured device that gets sold is like leaving a door unlocked for cyber criminals. They're not just after your personal data anymore. A hacked device could be a gateway to a factory's control systems, an office building's security, or even something as critical as the power grid. It's a scary thought. As Marko Kaasila, the CEO and co-founder, put it: "Cybersecurity of products is in everyone's interest. But the current way of assuring it — manual, not systematic, and expensive — is unsustainable." ### A Smarter, Automated Solution So, what's Test of Things doing differently? They're building a cloud-based platform that automates the entire cybersecurity testing process from start to finish. It uses AI to run tests continuously, catch problems early, and even generate the compliance paperwork that regulators demand. Rauli Kaksonen, the CTO and co-founder, says this new funding lets them double down on development. "This investment will let us focus on building the product further," he explained, "and start helping manufacturers to achieve their customers’ and authorities’ trust with secure products." The funding round was led by Vendep Capital, with backing from several industry veterans. Business Finland also chipped in. The investors see a huge opportunity here. Sami Ahvenniemi from Vendep Capital pointed to two major trends driving growth. First, industrial systems are connecting to corporate IT and the cloud like never before. Second, the rules and risks around critical infrastructure are getting stricter every day. ### What This Means for the Future With this fresh capital, Test of Things plans to grow its engineering team and speed up platform development. They're betting that automation is the only way to secure the exploding world of connected devices. It's a classic case of using technology to solve a problem that technology created. Instead of relying on a handful of overworked experts, they're creating a system that can handle the volume and complexity of today's IoT landscape. - **Automates tedious compliance testing** - **Flags security issues before they become disasters** - **Scales to meet the demand of a connected world** The bottom line? We need our smart devices to be, well, smart about security. Test of Things is working to make that the new standard, not the expensive exception.