The Advent of SMB Security: Why We Backed Cynomi

We’re excited to announce our 20M Series A investment in Cynomi, underscoring our excitement about their work to revolutionize how all small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) protect themselves against the ever-growing cyber threat landscape. 

At the heart of Cynomi is a simple idea: to enable SMBs to prevent, withstand, and recover from cybersecurity incidents – what’s become known as “cyber resilience.” Smaller enterprises have long been ill-equipped to deal with cyberattacks, making them more prone to devastating impacts. To date, robust solutions have been cost-prohibitive and out of reach, and managed service providers (MSPs) have had limited expertise to handle the work involved in providing CISO-level counsel to these companies.

The demand for MSPs to provide such services has surged and is expected to grow as much as fivefold by next year. This is mainly due to (A) the increased number of cyber attacks targeting SMBs, (B) mounting pressure from regulators, vendors, and customers, (C) the potential costs of recovering from attacks, and (D) mandates from insurance firms to use security tools. 

Enter Cynomi. Cynomi’s vCISO (virtual CISO) platform combines CISO-level knowledge and AI to automate the tasks required for SMBs to achieve cyber resilience – at a fraction of the cost of hiring an in-house CISO. Cynomi enables companies to continuously assess their security posture, build strategic remediation plans, and execute them to reduce risk. In a few words, they’re bringing enterprise-grade cybersecurity solutions and expertise to SMBs at large.

Of note is that Cynomi offers its platform exclusively through MSPs and MSSPs. While such CISO services have traditionally been high-touch and relatively expensive, Cynomi has built a unique vCISO that enables partners to provide these services in a significantly more automated, efficient manner using state of the art Artifial Intelligence. In speaking with partners, it’s clear that Cynomi has not only impacted end clients but also expedited the growth of many partners’ cybersecurity and compliance services practices, with MSPs already seeing improved client retention, increased recurring revenue, and upsell opportunities after rolling out Cynomi.

David Primor and Roy Azoulay have an ambitious vision for Cynomi and have executed it well. Their focus and firsthand experience with this problem make them exactly the type of founders we look for at Canaan. As concerns about security and compliance take center stage, Cynomi is setting a new standard for how SMBs approach security and protect themselves from cyberattacks. We’re excited to be part of their journey!