Echo buys Minimus days after its planned shutdown, expanding container security options
What's the deal? New York-based Echo has acquired the assets of Minimus, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana container security startup that announced plans to wind down operations days earlier. Echo is buying "all of the assets," including the intellectual property, technology, customer contracts, and data, according to co-founder and chief executive officer Eilon Elhadad.
Why now? Minimus said on Monday it would end operations on October 22, citing a business and investment climate that left it "unable to continue operations." Echo finalized its purchase shortly after that announcement.
What's the endgame? Echo provides secure software infrastructure and says its zero-time-to-value integration for engineers drove its growth. Minimus developed a different approach to securing container images and integrating multiple scanners, which Elhadad said broadens the choices Echo can offer customers.
Elhadad framed the two methods as complementary. He estimated about 90% of open-source images are built on foundations similar to Echo's, while roughly 10% follow the Minimus approach.
"There are the remaining 10% that are built on something that is like Minimus, and that's allowing us now to give this piece also to those that decided to adopt that approach," Elhadad told ISMG.
The players: Minimus, founded in 2022, employs 73 people and raised a $51 million seed round in May 2025, led by YL Ventures and Mayfield. It was run by Ben Bernstein, who founded container security startup Twistlock in 2015 and sold it to Palo Alto Networks in July 2019 for $378.1 million. Echo itself raised $35 million to tackle cloud vulnerabilities with AI.
What about the staff? Elhadad said he is open to Minimus employees joining Echo, though that is not part of the deal. "We are happy to get many of Minimus's employees. It depends who wants to join and who would be a great fit," he said.
The signal: The fast collapse-and-acquisition points to a tightening funding climate for security startups, even those with fresh seed capital and experienced founders. "The companies that survive and build great companies and big companies are the ones that are running fast enough," Elhadad said.
Image credit: Cory M. Grenier
