Cyber security start-up achieves £230k in pre-seed funding

A Manchester start-up has secured £230,000 in pre-seed funding.

Cyber security start-up, Cytix is set to release the latest version of its SaaS product, which embeds security testing into the fabric of an organisation’s IT estate.

It allows businesses to integrate security testing into workflows, while still providing the priority tests needed to achieve certification compliance.

The cloud vulnerability management platform allows businesses to protect themselves from risks and government fines and make sure their systems are secure through a cluster of dedicated pentesters, which help identify and resolve vulnerabilities.

The business, which has joined the fifth cohort of Exchange, the tech scale-up support scheme at Department Bonded Warehouse, is currently forecasting an ARR of £400,000 in its first year. It plans to on-board additional customers during its current beta phase, to further learn what features and functionality would be most beneficial to users. The new developments will be built, added, and automated to further enhance the PTaaS product.

The pre-seed funding from SFC Capital, and portfolio manager Ed Stevenson, will be used to develop the platform, and expand the team, bringing on board an ethical hacker and B2B marketing professional into the fold, in addition to the founding trio of Ben Armstrong, Thomas Ballin and Matt Milan.

Ben Armstrong said: “Almost every aspect of technology has moved on in recent years, yet security testing hasn’t. We want to change penetration testing from a once-per-year consultancy exercise into a SaaS platform which provides continuous support and reassurance to development teams.

“Our founding team has deep experience of cyber security, and this funding allows us to establish a foothold in the market, and transform it for the better. We have created a proprietary MVP and plan to develop it with further solutions and support for developers in the coming months.”

Cytix gives development teams the support needed to write better code via its easy to use dashboard. IT managers can also see risk profiles with a single click rather than thumbing through 100+ page reports. The software automatically evaluates IT estates, and vulnerabilities are then automatically shared with the dedicated tech team to remedy them.

Cytix currently has more than 17 organisations using the platform, growing 30% month on month, including DebtStream, a Cheshire-based forward thinking fintech company, as it gathers momentum.

Alice Pickersgill, head of Exchange, said: “Cytix is an exciting prospect in the cyber security space, and we’re looking forward to supporting the founding team as it grows in the coming months.

“Exchange’s community of likeminded founders means that the team can develop and troubleshoot as a collective, and share the trials and tribulations of getting an innovative tech business off the ground with people in a similar position.”

Cytix used the SeedLegals platform to create and complete the necessary legal agreements required to close its funding round.