Guardz, a cybersecurity and insurance platform for small businesses, has emerged from stealth, announcing a $10 million Seed round.
According to a note from Guardz, the round was led by Hanaco Ventures with the notable participation of online investment platform iAngels. Other investors include GKFF Ventures and Cyverse Capital. iAngels provides smaller investors access to interesting early-stage firms with a minimum investment of $10,000. Founded in 2014, iAngels reports 24 profitable exits and $400 million in AUM.
Guardz is a platform that provides 24/7 monitoring to protect clients’ range of assets, enabling them to act in near real-time. Guardz was founded last year by Dor Eisner and Alon Lavi, along with a team of cyber and insurance experts.
Guardz expects to utilize the new capital to expand its product, develop its cyber insurance line, and scale its market distribution channels. Guardz aims to service SMEs that typically do not have the resources of big corporations. Yet these smaller firms are the backbone of any healthy and robust economy. Guardz notes that in the past several years, nearly half of the cyber attacks have targeted smaller firms, representing a loss of around $7 billion – not to mention the reputational damage and collateral fallout.
Guardz provides protection from the “top attack vectors,” including cloud applications, web browsing, cyber awareness, devices, emails, and compromised data.
Guardz also offers insurance for small businesses that were previously ineligible due to shortcomings in cyber protection.
Eisner, CEO of Guardz, says that bad actors are acutely aware of small businesses and their vulnerabilities. He says they have seen “tremendous results” from the firms that are utilizing Guardz.
Shelly Hod Moyal, founding Partner of iAngels, adds that the increase of ransomware, phishing, and other attacks is harming SMEs which are big targets for hackers.
“With their first-hand experience building and commercializing successful cyber products, Dor Eisner and Alon Lavi are perfectly positioned to lead Guardz’s one-stop-cyber-shop for small businesses. We’re excited to partner with the Guardz team as they work to empower SMBs with the necessary tools to protect themselves,” states Hod Moyal.