Savvy

Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Savvy Security is a cybersecurity firm established in 2021 by co-founders Guy Guzner (CEO), Yoav Horman (Co-founder & CTO), David Ben Zakai (Co-founder & Chief Architect), and Eldar Kleiner (Co-founder & CPO). The founding team possesses extensive experience in the cybersecurity sector, with CEO Guy Guzner having previously co-founded Fireglass, a browser-isolation startup acquired by Symantec in 2017, and holding senior positions at Check Point Software Technologies. Horman and Ben Zakai also held roles at Fireglass before its acquisition. This collective background in network security and browser isolation directly informs Savvy's approach to modern security challenges.

The company operates in the Software as a Service (SaaS) security market, addressing the risks that arise from the widespread adoption of cloud-based applications in the enterprise. Savvy's business model is centered on providing a subscription-based platform to its clients, which include Fortune 500 companies in sectors like hospitality and consumer goods. The firm targets security operations (SecOps), Identity and Access Management (IAM), and IT leaders who are contending with issues like SaaS sprawl, shadow IT, and inconsistent security policy enforcement. A significant milestone for the company was securing $30 million in a Series A funding round in July 2023, led by Canaan with participation from Cyberstarts and Lightspeed.

Savvy's core offering is a workforce security automation platform with an identity-first approach. The platform provides visibility into how employees use both managed and unmanaged SaaS applications. It functions by deploying a lightweight browser extension and integrating with existing identity providers and email systems to discover all applications and user accounts. One of the platform's key features is its just-in-time security guardrails. Instead of blocking actions, Savvy delivers real-time, interactive guidance to users at the point of decision, empowering them to correct risky behaviors. For example, it can prompt a user to disable chat history in a generative AI tool before entering sensitive data or discourage the reuse of corporate credentials on unmanaged sites. The platform also uses customizable, low-code automation playbooks to orchestrate responses to potential security events, such as incomplete employee offboarding or logins that bypass single sign-on (SSO). This focus on preempting user-initiated risks, rather than just reacting to them, helps organizations improve their security posture without hindering productivity.

Keywords: SaaS security, identity-first security, shadow IT, workforce security automation, just-in-time guardrails, SaaS security posture management (SSPM), identity and access management (IAM), browser security, user behavior analytics, security automation, cloud application security, data loss prevention (DLP), insider risk management, cybersecurity, Guy Guzner, generative AI security, SaaS sprawl, identity governance, access control, security operations, application security, enterprise browsing system