Former leaders in the tech industry covertly establish Dawnguard, backed by a $3 million investment, with the aim of revolutionizing cybersecurity through DNA-based alterations
Dawnguard, a cybersecurity startup based in Amsterdam, has secured $3 million in pre-seed funding to revolutionize the way security is integrated into the IT landscape. The round was led by 9900 Capital and a group of angel investors, including scale-up founders, experienced CIOs, and CISOs.
The funds raised will be used to expand Dawnguard's engineering team and deepen enterprise integrations. The startup's AI/ML-driven security architecture automation platform aims to make security a native and continually adaptive characteristic of infrastructure, rather than a bolt-on feature.
Dawnguard's platform is designed for security architects, DevOps engineers, and cloud teams working in dynamic, cloud-native environments. It embeds security into the architecture lifecycle from the earliest design phases, automating validation and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) generation to enforce security as code. It continuously monitors and adjusts to infrastructure changes post-deployment, leveraging AI/ML to adapt and detect issues proactively across complex cloud environments.
CEO Mahdi Abdulrazak and CTO Kim van Lavieren lead Dawnguard. The founding team brings decades of experience from the military and major tech companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon. The startup plans to bridge the security gap between fast-paced "vibe coding" and GenAI applications, aligning intent with reality by giving teams tools to enforce security alignment from the start and long after deployment.
Dawnguard's goal is to make secure architecture not just possible, but inevitable. The startup aims to redefine how security is integrated in the age of AI, introducing a new category in cybersecurity by embedding security directly into system architecture. The funds will be used to bring Dawnguard's platform to broader production use and expand its AI/ML-driven engines to integrate seamlessly across the entire IT landscape.
In summary, Dawnguard's innovative approach revolutionizes security in the AI era by:
- Embedding security into the architecture lifecycle from the earliest design phases
- Automating validation and IaC generation to enforce security as code
- Continuously monitoring and adjusting to infrastructure changes post-deployment
- Leveraging AI/ML to adapt and detect issues proactively across complex cloud environments
- Planning expansion through further AI/ML advancements and broader IT landscape integration
Dawnguard offers a collaborative workspace for engineering and security teams to co-design secure, compliant systems, aligning intent with reality in the ever-evolving world of AI-driven IT infrastructure.
[1] Dawnguard Press Release, [Link to the press release] [3] Dawnguard Whitepaper, [Link to the whitepaper]
- Dawnguard, with its AI/ML-driven security architecture automation platform, aims to integrate cybersecurity more effectively into the data-and-cloud-computing landscape, revolutionizing the way security is handled in dynamic, cloud-native environments.
- The startup's innovative approach to cybersecurity encompasses technology that embeds security into the architecture lifecycle, automates validation and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) generation, and uses AI/ML to proactively adapt and monitor security across the entire IT landscape.
