EXHALE SYSTEMS LIMITED

What EXHALE SYSTEMS LIMITED does

EXHALE SYSTEMS LIMITED is a privately held UK startup, registered in England and Wales (company no. 16808856) and headquartered at 45 Chesterfield Road, Bristol. Founded in 2024 by Gareth Williams (Co-Founder & CEO) and Simon Ponsford (Co-Founder & CTO), the company builds and delivers two distinct product lines for critical infrastructure operators. Exhale Security is a managed cybersecurity platform for unmanned OT sites — pumping stations, electricity substations, gas governors, and grid-scale battery storage — combining a hardened, DIN-rail-mountable industrial gateway (rated -20°C to +60°C, with integrated 4G, hardware-backed mTLS, post-quantum ML-KEM-768 encryption, and outbound-only zero-trust connectivity) with a UK-hosted central console that performs OT-protocol deep packet inspection (Modbus, DNP3, IEC 60870-5-104), automated certificate rotation via a private CA, fleet health management, and continuous NCSC CAF 4.0-aligned compliance evidence generation. Exhale VPP is a separate product line that connects commercial batteries to UK grid services (Dynamic Containment, Moderation, and Regulation) via a small self-configuring gateway, with customers retaining 70% of generated revenue under monthly subscription terms and no lock-in.

The company monetises through one-time gateway hardware sales (£800 per site indicative for security) plus annual managed-platform subscriptions (£600 per site per year) for the security product, and a £25/month per-site gateway subscription for the VPP product, complemented by a 10% lifetime revenue share for installer channel partners. Go-to-market is bifurcated: enterprise direct, founder-led sales targeting UK utility operators via a 4-step 25-site pilot programme aligned to the March 2028 DWI e-CAF and April 2028 Ofgem RIIO deadlines, alongside a channel-partner motion for the VPP product. No external funding rounds, named customers, or disclosed revenue figures are present in the source materials; the firm is actively taking on first water sector pilots in 2026 with a self-described "small team" of two co-founders.

Name

EXHALE SYSTEMS LIMITED

Legal name

Exhale Systems Limited

Website

https://exhale.systems

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Short description

EXHALE SYSTEMS LIMITED is a privately held Bristol, UK startup that delivers managed OT cybersecurity for unmanned UK utility sites (water, gas, electricity) via hardened industrial gateways, and operates a Virtual Power Plant service connecting commercial batteries to UK grid markets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

OT Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure

NAICS

Security Systems Services (56162), Security Systems Services (except Locksmiths) (561621), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415)

SIC

Computer Communications Equipment (3576)

akta.pro primary industry

Device/Asset Enablement & Edge Control (IoT Gateways, Controllers, Interoperability) (EUAFAHAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Customer Grid-Edge Enablement Services (HEMS/DR Device Integration, VPP Enablement) (EUAEANAL), Aggregator-as-a-Service & White-Label VPP Programs (Retailers, OEMs, Utilities) (EUAFAHAK), VPP Optimization, Forecasting & Dispatch Software (AI/ML, Digital Twins) (EUAFAHAG)

Keywords

• OT cybersecurity platform
• Managed security services
• Virtual power plant
• Industrial gateway hardware
• OT compliance evidence

Headquarters

HQ city

Bristol

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Gateway hardware sales: One-time sale of hardened DIN-rail industrial gateway hardware to each site. Pre-provisioned before shipping; field engineers only need to connect power and Ethernet.
2. Managed security platform (subscription): Annual subscription per site covering security monitoring, fleet management, automated certificate rotation, health monitoring, and compliance evidence generation. Quoted as from £600/site/year.
3. Battery VPP gateway subscription: Battery VPP customers pay £25/month per site gateway subscription. Revenue is split 70% to customer, 10% to installer, with Exhale retaining the remainder. No lock-in contracts; cancel anytime.
4. Installer referral revenue share: Installers earn 10% of customer monthly revenue for the lifetime of the account. Exhale retains a share of the remaining 30% customer revenue after the gateway fee (£300/year).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Exhale Systems provides two product lines: (1) Exhale Security, a managed cybersecurity platform combining a ruggedized industrial gateway (DIN-rail mounted, rated -20°C to +60°C with built-in 4G, post-quantum encryption, and OT protocol deep packet inspection) deployed at each remote unmanned OT site, together with a central UK-hosted console that delivers fleet management, automated certificate rotation, and continuous NCSC CAF 4.0-aligned compliance evidence generation; and (2) Exhale VPP, a virtual power plant service that connects commercial batteries to the UK electricity grid to earn revenue from Dynamic Containment, Moderation, Regulation, and arbitrage, with the customer retaining 70% of generated revenue.

Product overview

EXHALE SYSTEMS LIMITED offers two distinct product lines: (1) Exhale Security — a hardware-plus-software platform combining the Exhale Gateway (rugged DIN-rail industrial hardware with 4G, post-quantum encryption, and hardware-backed mTLS) and the Exhale Platform (central console for fleet management, OT protocol deep inspection, automated certificate rotation, and NCSC CAF-aligned compliance evidence generation); and (2) Exhale VPP — a Virtual Power Plant service using a small gateway to connect commercial batteries to the UK grid, enabling revenue from Dynamic Containment, Regulation, and arbitrage while customers retain 70% of earnings with no lock-in contracts.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Exhale Security: Managed security platform for unmanned OT sites including pumping stations, substations, and gas governors.
• Exhale VPP

Products and services

• Exhale Security Managed cybersecurity platform for unmanned OT (Operational Technology) sites including pumping stations, electricity substations, and gas governors. Combines a ruggedized industrial gateway deployed at each remote site with a central UK-hosted management console providing fleet management, OT protocol deep packet inspection, automated certificate rotation via a private certificate authority, and continuous NCSC CAF 4.0-aligned compliance evidence generation. Sold to UK utility operators at gateway hardware from £800 per site one-time plus managed platform subscription from £600 per site per year, with volume pricing at scale.
• Exhale VPP (Virtual Power Plant) Virtual power plant service that connects commercial batteries (typically 5kW–500kW) to the UK electricity grid to earn revenue through Dynamic Containment, Moderation, Regulation, and arbitrage services. Customers retain 70% of generated revenue, pay £25/month per site gateway subscription with no lock-in contracts, and can cancel anytime. Distributed via an installer channel partner programme where installers earn 10% of customer monthly revenue for the lifetime of the account.

Quantifiable outcome

• 15–30 minutes per site for initial deployment (field engineer only connects power and Ethernet; gateway calls home and self-configures)
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature9 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Dragos: Industrial cybersecurity platform specializing in OT threat detection and incident response for utilities and critical infrastructure. Closest direct peer on the security-analytics side of Exhale's value proposition.
• Nozomi Networks: OT and IoT security vendor providing network visibility, asset monitoring, and threat detection for industrial sites including utilities. Competes head-to-head with Exhale on OT protocol inspection and remote unmanned site coverage.
• Kiwi Power (Engie): UK-based VPP and demand-response aggregator acquired by Engie. Competes with Exhale VPP for commercial battery owners seeking UK grid services revenue with no hardware lock-in.
• Claroty: OT cybersecurity specialist focused on industrial and critical infrastructure environments. Directly comparable to Exhale Security on OT protocol visibility, asset discovery, and CNI customer base; significantly larger and more mature with established UK utility deployments.
• Limejump (RWE): UK VPP aggregator acquired by RWE, participating in Dynamic Containment, Moderation, and Regulation grid services. Most direct comparable to Exhale VPP on UK ancillary services aggregation, but at materially greater scale.

Emerging players

• Enode: Energy asset API platform connecting distributed energy resources (batteries, EVs, heat pumps) to VPPs and aggregators. Comparable emerging player providing enabling software layer adjacent to Exhale's gateway approach.
• Senseen: UK-based OT/IoT monitoring vendor for utility remote sites and critical infrastructure. Comparable emerging player targeting the same unmanned-site monitoring use case as Exhale Security at smaller scale.
• Open Utility: UK-focused VPP and peer-to-peer energy matching platform. Comparable emerging player to Exhale VPP with similar UK regulatory positioning but a different customer-engagement model (matching vs gateway aggregation).

Broad incumbents

• Fortinet: FortiGate Rugged is explicitly named by Exhale as the incumbent comparable for industrial firewalls. Broad incumbent across enterprise and OT networking with deep existing footprint at UK utilities — the primary displacement target.
• Cisco (Cyber Vision): Cisco's Cyber Vision provides OT visibility as part of its industrial networking portfolio. Broad incumbent with established utility relationships; competes with Exhale at the network-level security layer for OT sites.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about EXHALE SYSTEMS LIMITED