In the long arc of a company's life, there are moments when the builder must yield to the scaler — and moments when the scaler's work is done and the builder must return. Andrea Carcano, who co-founded Nozomi Networks fourteen years ago on the belief that industrial systems deserved real security, is stepping back into the CEO role after a decade of watching his company grow into a $100M revenue business acquired by Mitsubishi Electric for $1 billion. The transition is not a correction but a continuation — a founder returning not to rescue, but to lead the next frontier of AI-driven industrial
Nozomi Networks Founder Returns as CEO to Lead AI-Driven Security Push
The same hunger and audacity that started this company, now at the largest scale.
Mark
So Carcano is going back to being CEO after ten years away. Why does that matter?
Mimi
Because the company just got acquired for a billion dollars and crossed $100 million in revenue. Capdevielle got it there. Now the founders are taking the wheel back for what they see as the next chapter—AI-driven security for industrial systems.
Luke
But we should be clear: Capdevielle isn't leaving. He's staying as an advisor. So this isn't a dramatic ouster or a founder reclaiming control from someone who failed.
Mark
Right. It sounds like a planned transition. Capdevielle did his job, and now the founders want to lead the innovation phase.
Mimi
Exactly. Capdevielle was brought in to build the go-to-market machine and raise capital. He did that. Now Carcano and Carullo want to focus on what they see as the next competitive battleground: AI in operational technology security.
Luke
The question is whether founder-led companies can actually execute at scale. Nozomi is no longer a startup. It's owned by Mitsubishi Electric. It has thousands of customers. The dynamics are completely different.
Mark
Do we know if there's any risk to customers or partners in this change?
Mimi
Carcano has said explicitly that nothing changes for customers—same account teams, same support, same product roadmap. The company is trying to signal continuity.
Luke
That's what they always say. We won't know if it's true for six months or a year. But based on what's been announced, there's no indication of disruption.
Mark
And the AI angle—is that real or just the buzzword of the moment?
Mimi
Carcano and Carullo are saying that AI will define who wins in their market. Attackers will use AI. Defenders will use AI. Speed and quality of AI tools will matter.
Luke
That's a reasonable thesis. Whether Nozomi can actually execute on it faster than competitors is the real test. Being a founder doesn't automatically make you better at AI strategy.
Mark
Fair. So we're watching to see if founder leadership plus institutional resources actually produces innovation, or if it just produces noise.
Mimi
That's the story.
El Pulso
- The industrial cybersecurity market is entering an AI arms race, and Nozomi Networks is repositioning its leadership to compete at the front of it.
- Co-founder Andrea Carcano reclaims the CEO seat after a decade away, replacing Edgard Capdevielle, whose decade of scaling the company to $100M revenue and a $1B acquisition is now considered mission accomplished.
- The $1B Mitsubishi Electric acquisition gives Nozomi the institutional muscle of a global industrial conglomerate while preserving its operational independence and vendor-neutral stance.
- Customers, partners, and account teams are being assured that nothing breaks — the roadmap, support commitments, and programs remain intact as the company accelerates rather than pivots.
- The market is now watching whether the rare combination of founder-driven technical vision and institutional-scale resources can define the next era of OT and IoT security.
In the long arc of a company's life, there are moments when the builder must yield to the scaler — and moments when the scaler's work is done and the builder must return. Andrea Carcano, who co-founded Nozomi Networks fourteen years ago on the belief that industrial systems deserved real security, is stepping back into the CEO role after a decade of watching his company grow into a $100M revenue business acquired by Mitsubishi Electric for $1 billion. The transition is not a correction but a continuation — a founder returning not to rescue, but to lead the next frontier of AI-driven industrial cybersecurity at a scale he once could only imagine.
Fourteen years ago, Andrea Carcano and Moreno Carullo wrote the first lines of code for Nozomi Networks with a straightforward conviction: industrial systems deserved security tools that actually worked. A decade ago, they made the classic founder's trade — bringing in Edgard Capdevielle to do what builders often cannot, raising capital, constructing a sales organization, and scaling the company to compete at the highest level. That work is now finished. Capdevielle moves into an advisory role, and Carcano returns to the CEO chair.
The decade in between produced remarkable results. Nozomi crossed $100 million in annual revenue, became the first privately held OT cybersecurity company to reach sustained cash-flow break-even, and earned the trust of major operators across oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, and utilities. Gartner named it a Leader in cyber-physical systems protection and its sole Customers' Choice. Mitsubishi Electric's $1 billion acquisition closed recently, giving Nozomi the resources of a global industrial conglomerate while preserving its independence and vendor-neutral identity.
Carcano and Carullo are now pointing the company toward artificial intelligence as the defining competitive advantage in the next phase of the market. The logic is direct: attackers will use AI, defenders will use AI, and the companies that build the best tools fastest will set the pace. Nozomi intends to be among them.
Capdevielle's exit carries no rupture. He remains close as an advisor, and Carcano has made clear that every decision — product, hiring, partnership — will begin with what customers actually need. The company is not changing direction. It is accelerating. What remains to be seen is whether founder vision, now applied at institutional scale and backed by a Japanese industrial giant, can produce the next wave of innovation in a category Carcano helped create.
Andrea Carcano is returning to run the company he started. Fourteen years ago, he and Moreno Carullo wrote the first lines of code for Nozomi Networks with a simple belief: industrial systems deserved security tools that actually worked. A decade ago, they brought in Edgard Capdevielle to do what founders often cannot—build the sales organization, raise capital, and scale the business to compete at the highest level. That mission is now complete. Capdevielle is stepping into an advisory role, and Carcano is stepping back into the CEO chair.
The numbers tell the story of what happened in between. Nozomi crossed $100 million in annual revenue, becoming the first privately held company focused on operational technology cybersecurity to achieve sustained cash-flow break-even. The company earned the trust of five of the ten largest oil and gas operators, seven of the top ten pharmaceutical manufacturers, and seven of the top ten utilities. Gartner named it a Leader in cyber-physical systems protection and the only Customers' Choice in its category. Mitsubishi Electric acquired the company for $1 billion, a transaction that closed recently and gave Nozomi the resources of a global industrial conglomerate while letting it keep operating independently and remain vendor-neutral.
What comes next is the harder part to predict. Carcano and Carullo are positioning the company to lead in artificial intelligence applied to operational technology and IoT security. The framing is deliberate: they see AI as the defining competitive advantage in the next phase of the market. Attackers will use AI. Defenders will use AI. The companies that move fastest and build the best AI-driven tools will set the pace. Nozomi intends to be one of them, with the founders who built the category now leading it forward.
Capdevielle's departure is not a rupture. He will remain close to the company as an advisor. The account teams, support commitments, partner programs, and product roadmap all stay the same. Carcano has emphasized that every decision—product, hiring, partnership—will start with what customers actually need. The company is not pivoting. It is accelerating.
What makes this transition unusual is that it is a founder returning to operational control after a decade away. Carcano and Carullo built something that worked, then stepped back to let someone else scale it. Now they are stepping forward again, but into a company that is vastly larger, more established, and owned by a Japanese industrial giant. The hunger and audacity that started Nozomi in a garage or small office fourteen years ago will now be applied at a scale most startups never reach. Whether that combination—founder vision with institutional resources—produces the next wave of innovation in industrial cybersecurity is the question the market will be watching.
Citas Notables
Stepping into this role feels like returning to where our story began, only now with the conviction of everything we've proven since: category-defining products, the trust of the world's most critical operators, and market leadership recognised across the industry.— Andrea Carcano, Co-Founder and CEO, Nozomi Networks
This is the moment our industry has been building toward—where the pace of AI on both sides, attacker and defender, decides who leads.— Moreno Carullo, Co-Founder and CTO, Nozomi Networks
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