DEFENDERBOX secures €715,000 in seed funding

SMB Cybersecurity GmbH has secured fresh capital of EUR 715,000 in its seed round. Four business angels and NRW.BANK, which has invested EUR 200,000 via the NRW.SeedCap funding program, are also on board. The capital will flow into the further development of DEFENDERBOX, an automated security solution for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Plug & play against cyber risks

DEFENDERBOX automatically detects potential IT security vulnerabilities without the need for specialist knowledge, time-consuming configurations or complex installations. It was developed specifically for companies with limited IT resources that need to protect themselves against increasingly complex threats - often without their own security team.

With DEFENDERBOX, we want to finally make cyber security simple for SMEs. The funding gives us the necessary boost to further develop our product, open up new markets and enable comprehensive cyber resilience.

Markus Schulte, CEO and founder of SMB Cybersecurity GmbH

Growing market, acute gap

The threat situation for companies is growing, while many SMEs are severely underserved when it comes to IT security. This is precisely where DEFENDERBOX comes in, either as a physical appliance or as a virtual instance. Operation is fully automated: The solution regularly checks for vulnerabilities and offers prioritized recommendations for action. With the expertise gained from over 100,000 server analyses and 2 million tested telecommunications connections, the founding team brings real experience to the table.

The digital transformation can only succeed if companies can protect themselves effectively against cyber attacks. Our investment is a targeted contribution to the economic resilience of SMEs.

Johanna Antonie Tjaden-Schulte, Member of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK

Growth, partner network, new markets

The capital flows into:

• Further development of the DEFENDERBOX software
• New features and services (managed detection, reporting, etc.)
• Establishment of a partner network of certified IT service providers
• Customer acquisition in the DACH region
• Expansion into European markets

The start-up based in Kreuztal (NRW) pursues the mission of making cyber security affordable, understandable and accessible for SMEs.