McLean cyber firm IronNet has ceased operations

After furloughing staff last month, McLean, Virginia cyber company IronNet officially ceased operations at the end of September.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing from Sept. 29, IronNet said that it was unable to secure the necessary capital and thus would end operations. Its remaining employees, including those working for IronNet’s subsidiaries, were terminated. IronNet did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filing.

The SEC document said that the company would likely be filing for relief via the US Bankruptcy Code; however, it will likely have to make a Chapter 7 filing. IronNet expects that this will mean significantly smaller distributions for stakeholders, as assets would have to be sold by a trustee in a short period rather than by management.

In its prior filing from Sept. 18, the company warned of likely bankruptcy when it revealed it had furloughed almost all of its employees, reduced operations and delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. In 2021, the company had gone public in a SPAC merger with LGL Systems.

Following the merger, a lawsuit was filed against IronNet in 2022, which claimed that founder and CEO Keith Alexander had made false claims about government contracts he said the company would receive. Had those contracts been secured, company revenue would have increased significantly. In July of this year,  Linda Zecher replaced Alexander as CEO, though he remained chair of the board.

According to the Washington Business Journal, the 100-person company laid off 35% of its staff in September of last year. For the three quarters prior, it reported a loss of $77.7 million and had missed multiple quarterly filings.

The company was originally founded in Fulton, Maryland, but moved to McLean in 2021. In 2018, it raised $78 million to help grow the company and expand its work into energy and finance.