Portuguese-American Opnova AI wins the Black Hat Global Startup Competition
- Portugal Business News - Valerie Charoux
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Tech News Europe - Portuguese-American tech startup Opnova won the Black Hat Global Startup Spotlight Competition, according to an announcement dated August 11th, 2026:
Black Hat, that is the cybersecurity industry's most established event, was held in the USA in 2026, with more than 23,000 participants. Black Hat's Global Startup Spotlight Competition, that showcased the most promising emerging cybersecurity companies across the Black Hat portfolio, awarded Opnova as the winner of the Global Startup Spotlight Competition 2026, spotlighting the startup´s innovation, technical excellence, and real-world impact.
What is Opnova?
Opnova AI is the third startup founded by Portuguese CTO José Luís Pereira, which he created with co-founders Pedro Saleiro (former Feedzai), Tiago Melo, and Sinan Eren, the CEO.
Opnova’s AI agents learn from video demonstrations of IT operators, then autonomously execute identity governance tasks across any application with just reliable IAM Ops. Opnova brings unified identity orchestration to the applications beyond the reach of IGA and ITSM platforms.
The startup aims to close the last mile of identity, connecting what couldn't be connected, automating what couldn't be automated, and giving teams back the time to focus on what matters most. The Opnova team is comprised of builders, researchers, and operators who have spent careers at the intersection of security, AI, and enterprise software, and are united by the simple belief that the best human work happens when machines handle the rework.
Opnova AI raised 3.75 million dollars in a pre-seed round co-led by Portuguese fund Faber, ScaleX Ventures, Preface Ventures, Incubate Fund and DNX Ventures in September 2024.
