Option3Ventures

Option3 Ventures (O3V) is a New York-based strategic cybersecurity-specialist private-equity and venture-capital firm founded in 2014 by Managing Partner Manish Thakur. The firm is singularly focused on cybersecurity, with an emphasis on Zero Trust architectures, Operational Technology and Industrial Internet of Things security, and network and firmware security. Rick Andlinger joined as Partner and Chief Investment Officer in March 2020, bringing more than 20 years of family-office private equity and VC leadership from Andlinger and Company. The firm's Technology Board includes former CIOs and board members of the US Department of Defense, CIA, and NSA. Option3 leads rounds and has historically operated three vehicles: C1 (2016), a portfolio of three minority investments; CS (2020), a Special Situations vehicle holding four minority stakes with selective board control; and CE (launched late 2023 through 2025), a single roll-up platform that acquires the CS portfolio companies and adds earlier-stage and mid-market Zero Trust businesses. Total current investments and deals exceed $100 million in AUM. Portfolio investments include Onclave Networks, a Zero Trust solution for industrial IoT that was acquired into the ENIGMA platform in August 2024; Veracity Industrial Networks, an SDN-based industrial security company; Dark Cubed, enterprise-grade cyber for SMBs; and Dellfer, an automotive and IoT firmware security company acquired in January 2025 with an additional investment in March 2025. The ENIGMA roll-up platform now fuses Onclave, Veracity, and Dellfer. Option3's sector specialization is its defining characteristic: by focusing entirely on cybersecurity and building a platform that consolidates complementary technologies, the firm acts as more than a financial investor — it functions as an architect of integrated security infrastructure.