Estonian company Blackwall, formerly known as BotGuard, has secured a €45 million Series B funding round led by Dawn Capital, Europe’s leading B2B investor.
Blackwall is a cybersecurity company. Already deployed across more than 2.3 million websites and applications, Blackwall defends web ecosystems from malicious automated threats. Around 50% of all global web traffic stems from bots, 66% of which is malicious. Traditional solutions are priced and designed for enterprises, leaving small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) – subject to 43% of all cyber attacks – vulnerable.
“With Blackwall, we are taking our mission to the next level—delivering gold-standard infrastructure protection to SMBs that have traditionally been overlooked. This funding enables us to scale globally and continue innovating for the businesses that need it most.”
Nikita Rozenberg, Co-Founder & CEO of Blackwall
The company partners with Hosting Services Providers (HSPs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and eCommerce Platforms, which typically host thousands to hundreds of thousands of websites. This in turn protects the SMB customers that use Blackwall via their service and hosting providers.
Blackwall expands to the United States
Unwanted bot traffic throttles networks, and AI is driving the volume and sophistication of attacks HSPs and MSPs have to manage. This increases their costs while slowing down end customers’ sites. While big providers can afford to spend millions on in-house product development, many HSPs and MSPs need external support to deal with the problem.
“With Blackwall, we are taking our mission to the next level—delivering gold-standard infrastructure protection to SMBs that have traditionally been overlooked. This funding enables us to scale globally and continue innovating for the businesses that need it most,” said Nikita Rozenberg, Co-Founder & CEO of Blackwall.
Led by Dawn Capital, with participation from existing investors MMC, Expeditions Fund, Red Dawn Ventures, and Tera Ventures, Blackwall’s Series B funding will be used to double headcount, invest in intense product development, accelerate growth as the company expands further into the U.S. and Asia–Pacific (APAC), and strengthens global channel partnerships.
“Blackwall has only scratched the surface of the expansive opportunity in North America and APAC, and we are confident that the company is uniquely positioned to transform how SMBs access advanced security solutions,” said Norman Fiore, General Partner at Dawn Capital.
The company is tackling malicious and useless traffic
Blackwall’s flagship product, GateKeeper, is an advanced reverse proxy fortified with next-generation bot and attack detection mechanisms. It proxies requests to hide servers from bots and hacker attacks, allowing HSPs and MSPs to reduce operational costs by up to 25% as they maximise server farm user density, and helps maximise revenue for these providers which underpin operations for millions of SMBs worldwide. The company helps HSPs/MSPs increase margins by growing revenue through scalable, high-value security services that attract new customers and open additional, recurring income streams.
March 2024 the company secured a €12 million Series A funding round.
“It is rare to see a business targeting SMBs which has such a broad offer, of which each component is best of breed. Blackwall’s innovative technology provides exactly that,” added Norman Fiore.
“Blackwall’s approach—tackling malicious and useless traffic at the infrastructure layer—addresses a critical gap in the market, providing much-needed protection to hosting providers and smaller businesses. With the rise of AI-driven threats, Blackwall’s products have never been more essential, and we believe it will become a leading force protecting against bots and other digital threats,” added Mina Samaan, General Partner at MMC Ventures.
GOOD TO KNOW
- Blackwall (formerly BotGuard), is an AI-enabled security and web infrastructure company dedicated to safeguarding web ecosystems from automated threats.
- The company was founded in Estonia in 2019 by engineers Nik Rozenberg and Denis Prochko (CTO). Born out of the co-founders’ experience leading and growing startups and battling malicious bots and hackers on their own websites, Blackwall now operates globally.
- Deployed across 2.3M+ websites and applications, GateKeeper, the company’s flagship product, is trusted by 100+ service & hosting partners globally to enhance performance, reduce operational costs, and maximize revenue by protecting SMB customers worldwide against emerging threats with simplicity, affordability, and scalability.
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