Tel Aviv, Israel-based artificial intelligence-powered virtual chief information security officer platform for managed service providers Cynomi Ltd. today announced it has raised $20 million in new funding to drive its international expansion and help clients overcome the cybersecurity skills gap.

The company’s Series A financing round was led by early-stage venture capital firm Canaan and joined by return investors Flint Capital, s16vc and Aloniq. This early-stage round brings the company’s total raised to $23.5 million following a $3.5 million seed round in February 2023 led by Flint Capital.

Cynomi looks to disrupt the cybersecurity landscape by delivering managed service providers and security service providers the ability to provide virtual CISO capabilities with knowledge and AI automation at a small fraction of the cost without having to hire in-house.

The company claims its platform combines everything that a CISO would for a client by prioritizing tasks and helping reveal where clients’ resources would be best used. It does this by taking information from questionnaires, external and internal scans, real-time threat intelligence, industry benchmarks and standards, then passing them through the AI engine and into an easy-to-understand dashboard.

“The demand we’ve seen is a testament to the clear value of Cynomi and the pressing need for accessible cybersecurity management solutions tailored to managed service providers that serve the small and medium businesses that make up most of the global economy,” said co-founder and Chief Executive David Primor.

According to Cynomi, it’s the only company that sells an automated virtual CISO solution through this channel and already has attracted over 100 service providers that protect their clients using its platform. Primor said he expects the number to grow in the upcoming years given the groundswell since launch as vCISO services continue to remain in demand. According to the company’s own findings, 86% of managed service providers and managed security service providers plan to provide vCISO services by the end of the year.

“As a Cynomi partner, we have experienced firsthand the value that their vCISO platform brings to our business,” said Jeff Schmidt, CEO at ECI, a provider of managed services to the financial services industry. “We use it with many of our customers and look forward to expanding our use of Cynomi to support hundreds of additional managed organizations.”

Primor said the new funding will be used to help scale up the company’s operations internationally and continue to enhance the platform to engage with its managed service provider partners. The goal is to enable them to expand their businesses into strategic cybersecurity services.

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