Expanding Beyond Commercial Vessels into Naval Cybersecurity and Overseas Shipbuilding and Maritime Markets
- Demonstrating market traction for maritime-specialized technology amid tightening ship and naval cybersecurity regulations
- Validated by government product certification and selection for a national cybersecurity scale-up program
- Building on commercial-fleet wins to expand into overseas shipbuilding, maritime, and naval markets
BUSAN, South Korea, June 30, 2026 — CYTUR Inc. (CEO Jo Yong-hyun), a maritime cybersecurity specialist, announced that it has closed a Series A round of US$3.4 million (KRW 5.2 billion), following its Pre-A round in 2024.
The investment comes as international ship cybersecurity regulations tighten, smart ships and autonomous vessels proliferate, and demand grows for cybersecurity across naval MRO and defense supply chains. CYTUR provides maritime-specialized technologies—cyber risk analysis, threat modeling, asset identification, security verification, and regulatory compliance documentation—across a ship’s design, construction, and operational stages. The company is now expanding beyond the commercial vessel market into the naval, defense, and MRO domains.
The round was joined by Sunbo Angel Partners (Sunbo Group), STIC Ventures, and Jones & Rocket, among others. Notably, Sunbo Angel Partners of the Sunbo Group joined as a follow-on investor, recognizing CYTUR’s technological strength and commercial viability. The investors are understood to have valued two factors: that cybersecurity in the global shipbuilding and shipping markets is shifting from an optional capability to a mandatory compliance requirement, and that CYTUR’s proprietary technology—purpose-built for shipbuilding and ship-lifecycle security—has already secured early commercial wins.
CYTUR plans to direct the proceeds toward recruiting maritime and defense cybersecurity talent, advancing its ship cyber threat modeling and security verification solutions, expanding its naval MRO and defense cybersecurity business, and entering overseas shipbuilding markets including the United States, Japan, and Singapore.
Government Validation and Scale-Up Program Selection
CYTUR’s core technology, ship cyber threat modeling, was first designated an Innovative Product by Korea’s Public Procurement Service and has since been named an Excellent Information Security Product for 2026 by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA)—a government certification that evaluates innovation, originality, technical maturity, and commercial viability. The recognition affirms CYTUR’s cybersecurity capabilities specialized for the ship, shipbuilding, and maritime sectors.
CYTUR was also selected for a government-backed program run by MSIT and KISA to scale up high-potential Korean cybersecurity companies through investment, global expansion, and commercialization support. The company was recognized for its specialized technology targeting vessels, naval platforms, and maritime infrastructure, as well as its growth potential in the global shipbuilding and shipping markets.
Commercial-Fleet Wins Validate the Market; Expansion into Naval Cybersecurity
Market results are materializing. In partnership with Rakuten Maritime, the maritime cybersecurity brand of the Rakuten Group, CYTUR has won cybersecurity contracts covering several dozen commercial vessels operated by global shipping companies. CYTUR’s role centers on its specialized strengths—design-stage threat modeling and ship-lifecycle security—delivered in line with tightening international regulations such as IACS UR E26 and E27.
CYTUR is extending the capabilities proven in the commercial market—ship cyber threat modeling, vessel anomaly detection, and supply-chain security management for marine equipment—into naval cybersecurity. Naval vessels are highly complex platforms in which diverse systems are tightly interconnected, making cybersecurity verification and supply-chain security increasingly critical across the maintenance, upgrade, and lifecycle-management stages.
The shifting global defense and shipbuilding landscape is opening new growth opportunities for maritime-specialized cybersecurity companies such as CYTUR. Going forward, the company plans to work with shipbuilding and defense partners in Korea and abroad to provide cybersecurity assessment, security verification, threat modeling, and vulnerability management required at the naval MRO stage.
Sea Change in U.S. Shipbuilding Opens New Opportunities
CYTUR’s technical profile is also rising internationally. The company was invited to present its ship cyber threat modeling and maritime cybersecurity case studies at MTS-ISAC’s Maritime Cyber Resilience Summit in Florida, USA, where maritime security experts—including from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)—were in attendance.
The United States is pursuing the rebuilding of its shipbuilding and maritime industrial base, strengthened naval construction and MRO capabilities, and expanded shipbuilding cooperation with allied nations as key policy priorities. This is widening the path for Korean shipbuilding and defense companies to enter the U.S. market, and elevating the importance of cybersecurity certification, security verification, and defense supply-chain security for both commercial vessels and naval platforms.
In line with these market shifts, CYTUR plans to advance its services for the U.S. shipbuilding and defense MRO markets—regulatory compliance, vessel and naval security analysis, supply-chain security for marine equipment, and threat-modeling-based maritime cybersecurity. Through these offerings, the company aims to position itself as a maritime cybersecurity partner that supports the global competitiveness of Korean shipbuilding and defense firms.
CYTUR is also broadening its international footprint through invitations to events such as a global IR and PoC program in Tokyo backed by major Japanese investors, and a global maritime startup roadshow in Busan involving Singapore’s PIER71 maritime accelerator.
“This Series A round, together with our government product certification, selection for the cybersecurity scale-up program, and commercial-fleet wins, shows that CYTUR has moved beyond technology validation into full-scale market expansion,” said Jo Yong-hyun, CEO of CYTUR. “Going forward, we will pursue opportunities across commercial ship cybersecurity, naval MRO, defense cybersecurity, and shipbuilding and maritime markets in the United States, Singapore, and Europe to grow into Asia’s representative maritime cybersecurity company.”
About CYTUR
The name CYTUR—short for “Cyber Turtle Ship” (CYber TURtle)—extends Korea’s heritage as a shipbuilding and naval powerhouse into a maritime cybersecurity brand. Founded in 2016, CYTUR is a maritime cybersecurity specialist headquartered in Busan with an office in Seoul, and plans to expand its footprint across major maritime nations including Singapore, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Building on expertise spanning defense, financial, and manufacturing security as well as IT and OT security, CYTUR develops cybersecurity solutions specialized for ships and naval vessels. The company is led by CEO Jo Yong-hyun, a Ph.D. in information security from Korea University’s Graduate School of Information Security and a founding member of the cyber crime investigation unit of the Republic of Korea Army’s Criminal Investigation Command (CID). The leadership team includes CSO Choe Yong-il, a business strategy and planning expert formerly with SK Shieldus, and CTO Yoon Young-hwan, an IT and OT security specialist, supported by internal and external directors with expertise across the shipping, naval, financial, defense, and security sectors.
CYTUR’s solutions have earned certification from leading classification societies including ClassNK, RINA, and LR, and the company holds ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications. CYTUR maintains a portfolio of 65 registered and filed maritime cybersecurity patents, with 12 international PCT applications in progress.