FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cortado Ventures Invests in Proactive Cybersecurity Platform for Critical Infrastructure
Bastazo is an AI-powered platform that helps OT teams efficiently shift from reactive patching to intelligent vulnerability remediation.
OKLAHOMA CITY (July 9, 2025) — Cortado Ventures is the lead investor in Bastazo, a Bentonville-based cybersecurity innovator that secures operational technology (OT) and critical infrastructure through machine learning–powered vulnerability prioritization and remediation.
Founded in 2020 by University of Arkansas faculty from research funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Bastazo has developed a solution that ingests an organization’s asset inventory and overlays adversary threat intelligence with advanced Stakeholder Specific Vulnerability Categorization (SSVC)-based prioritization.
“OT environments are inherently complex, and traditional tools just weren’t built for their challenges,” said Philip Huff, one of the co-founders. “We named Bastazo after the Greek bastazó meaning ‘to carry another’s burden,’ and specifically designed our platform to bear the weight of proactively securing these systems. Leveraging AI to identify the real risks, and showing teams exactly how to fix them, fast. This first round of venture capital investment is a validation of our vision and will accelerate our ability to protect the infrastructure that keeps our economy running.”
Bastazo detects the top 5% of vulnerabilities most likely to be exploited, maps them to remediation plans, and automatically generates exportable playbooks for work management tools.
Bastazo’s work is already gaining national traction. In a U.S. Department of Energy announcement from June 2025, the agency highlighted a new cybersecurity toolset for energy utilities, developed through a DOE-backed collaboration with Bastazo, Network Perception (now part of Dragos), and the University of Arkansas. Bastazo is leading the commercialization of the platform, called V-INT, which helps utilities simulate attacks and identify their most critical OT vulnerabilities.
“Protecting critical infrastructure demands an evolved approach, and Bastazo’s platform equips OT teams to move beyond reactionary patching toward intelligent, scalable defense,” said Nathaniel Harding, Managing Partner at Cortado Ventures. “In environments where uptime and safety cannot be compromised, Bastazo is exactly the kind of purposeful innovation we look to invest in at Cortado Ventures.”
About Cortado Ventures:
Founded by a team of seasoned CEOs and industry veterans in 2020, Cortado Ventures is a venture capital firm that’s working to define the Midcontinent’s success story for generations to come. Going beyond raising capital to support businesses – Cortado’s deep experience as leaders and innovators helps their portfolio companies accelerate their growth through strategic planning, training, and guidance. With focused efforts on entrepreneurs and startups who are founder-led by people with innovative, disruptive ideas in the energy, mobility and logistics, manufacturing, and healthcare technology sectors that are a natural fit for the Midcontinent region. Learn more at cortado.ventures.
About Bastazo:
Bastazo is an AI-driven cybersecurity platform focused on remediation for operational technology. By prioritizing the top 5% of critical vulnerabilities, Bastazo helps organizations automate risk mitigation while reducing team workloads. Its proprietary AI solutions bridge security and operational teams, ensuring faster, more effective remediation strategies. For more information or to schedule a demo, visit bastazo.com.
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Media Contact:
Anthony Triana, Saxum
405-818-0791