Cairo-based cybersecurity firm, Buguard has announced a $500,000 seed fundraise. The capital will help develop its team with a particular focus on product, sales, and channel partnerships. The round was led by A15, a prominent venture capital firm in the MENA region that doubles as one of the most notable investors in early-stage startups. Some angel investors also participated in the funding.
Buguard specializes in offensive security services like penetration testing and vulnerability assessment, phishing simulation, compromise simulation, threat intelligence, and red teaming. It’s worth noting that this is Buguard’s first funding from an outside source. Since its establishment in 2021, the offensive security and dark web monitoring company has been bootstrapping itself.
Regarding the fundraiser, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Youseff Mohamed shared his delight, thanking A15 for their belief in his company. He added, “Our team at Buguard is hand-picked and includes some of the world’s leading security researchers and engineers.”
He further mentioned that while Buguard already had a global client base, the company’s most pressing target was to expand its operations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. “We look forward to expanding into Saudi Arabia during 2023 and using our proceeds to help fulfil our significant growth potential,” he stated.
Following the start of operations, Buguard has worked with many Egypt-based companies like Paymob, Fawry, EFG-Hermes, Halan, Lucky, Thndr, and MaxAB. Beyond Egypt. The company also has a significant client base across the globe and serves organisations in the United States, Saudi Arabia, France, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
A15 General Partner, Karim Beshara commented on the rise, saying “We have been very impressed by the domain expertise exhibited by Buguard’s security researchers and engineers and are very excited to partner with Youssef and Buguard’s best-in-class team.”
He added that businesses must adopt proactive cybersecurity measures to counter the ever-changing tactics of internet criminals.
Alongside its fundraising, Buguard also unveiled a new SaaS product called Dark Atlas. Dark Atlas will be used for dark web monitoring and account takeover protection.
For context, the dark web comprises hidden pages that can only be visited using specialized web browsers. Although the dark web helps investigative journalists to retain their anonymity, it’s majorly used by criminals for illicit activities like organ trade and human trafficking.
Cybercriminals also use the dark web to spread malware which allows them to steal personal information from potential victims. Malware attacks typically cause financial losses, reputation damage, etc.
Aside from dark web monitoring and account takeover protection, Dark Atlas also helps clients by monitoring third-party/vendor threats landscape and C-level personal emails. It also gives them a strategic advantage against phishing attacks by uncovering all the closely related domain names of said clients.
Source: https://technext24.com/2023/08/07/buguard-500k-fundraise-expansion/