Guardio hits $1.1B valuation in $40M round backed by Wiz founder Assaf Rappaport
What's the deal? Israeli cybersecurity company Guardio has raised $40 million in a Series A round at a $1.1 billion valuation, with Wiz co-founder and chief executive officer Assaf RappaportDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → joining as an investor. The round was led by existing backers ION Crossover PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Union Tech VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Vintage Investment Partners, Cerca PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Emerge VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, bringing total funding to $167 million.
What's the endgame? Guardio protects people rather than devices, watching messages, email, calls, and browsing to stop scams before a user taps a malicious link. Its founders spent three years building without outside money on one conviction: the cybersecurity industry protects companies, but nobody protects the person.
By the numbers: The company has passed $150 million in annual recurring revenue and surpassed one million paying customers, double the figure a year ago. It has recorded revenue growth of more than 100% for four consecutive years.
Why so small? Chief executive officer Amos Peled said Guardio raised a limited amount by choice. "The company does not burn cash to succeed, and the money will allow us to move faster," he told Calcalist, adding that existing investors wanted to increase their holdings and there was "no need to dilute us with a larger raise."
Why now? AI has slashed the cost of running sophisticated scams, enabling personalised phishing, brand impersonation, and deepfake voice calls at near-zero cost. Peled calls it "a once-in-a-generation opportunity" in consumer security. According to the FBI, US consumer cybercrime losses hit a record of more than $20 billion.
The context: Peled compares today's market to the early antivirus era, when 65% of internet users paid for protection. He estimates only about 4% of consumers currently pay for consumer cybersecurity, leaving room to grow: reaching 5% of the market, he says, would translate to $1 billion in revenue.
The signal: The round sits in the top 5% by size for Series A deals in its sector and geography, a marker of investor conviction in consumer-facing security. As AI turns scams into a mass-scale threat, capital is flowing toward tools that guard the person, not just the machine.
Read more: guard.io, calcalistech.com, Bloomberg
Image credit: Guardio
