AFA 2024: SEMPRE secures additional funding to advance digital infrastructure technology

A SEMPRE M digital infrastructure system on display at the Air & Space Forces Association's conference in September 2024. (SEMPRE)

SEMPRE, a Washington, DC-based company developing digital infrastructure for the commercial and defence markets, announced a new USD10 million funding round co-led by AE Ventures, the venture capital platform of AE Industrial Partners, and 90 Degree North Holdings (90N) to accelerate SEMPRE's growth and technology in critical infrastructure solutions, the company said in a 16 September statement.

AE Ventures has a strategic partnership with Boeing, which announced SEMPRE as its newest portfolio company during the Air & Space Forces Association's (AFA's) Air, Space & Cyber conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on 16 September.

Over the last six years SEMPRE has developed a solution to bring network, data, and communication infrastructure to the battlefield, Rob Spalding, CEO of SEMPRE, told Janes at the conference on 16 September. This kind of infrastructure, including mobile phone networks and data centres, is typically built by commercial companies. It has not previously been brought to the battlefield because it is highly centralised, making it vulnerable to attack, Spalding said.

The development of 5G networks and associated software enable the creation of the SEMPRE T product that essentially combines cloud and network capabilities, he said. The system is installed in a 36 inch (0.9 m) box weighing about 300 lb (136 kg), according to the SEMPRE website. The box is hardened against electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) and tamper resistant, preventing adversaries from taking a lid off or cutting a hole in it. The system is designed to recognise tampering attempts, which causes it to ‘zeroise' the key so an adversary cannot take any data from it, Spalding explained.