Cyber Upgrade, a Lithuania-based cybersecurity startup, has obtained €650k in pre-seed funding from venture capital firms FIRSTPICK, NGL Ventures, and other business angels. This is a significant step forward in its objective to deliver inclusive and accessible cybersecurity for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and fintechs.
This pre-seed money will allow Cyber Upgrade to expedite their development, increase their market awareness, and refine their goods to guarantee they are in line with market demands. The firm is now working on future-proofing its solution, expanding its AI chatbot, and upgrading the platform’s dashboard to provide a comprehensible overview of all occurrences.
Cyber Upgrade, launched in 2023, is led by Aurimas Bakas and Andrius Minkevičius, who previously co-created and sold Paysolut, a core banking system supplier, to SumUp after a successful multi-year cooperation.
“This investment opens exciting growth opportunities, allowing us to develop the latest technologies into next-generation operational level defenses against emerging cybersecurity threats” .
“In ten years of building critical banking infrastructures at Paysolut, we learned a great deal about securing and strengthening banking systems against cyber attacks. We are now in a position to combine our years of experience with all the latest AI-driven solutions to make Cyber Upgrade the first line of defense in cybersecurity.”
Bakas, CEO at Cyber Upgrade
Cyber Upgrade is building a dynamic AI-driven platform designed to meet the specific cybersecurity demands of SMEs, notably in terms of accessibility and inclusion. The platform is a gamified system with an AI chatbot that serves as a virtual cybersecurity officer, assisting each SME in developing its own real-world cybersecurity solutions. The software also has an instructional component, with an interactive game-like interface to keep team members current on the newest cybersecurity practices.
The company’s platform also assists established fintechs by providing tools for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) to monitor and manage their in-house cybersecurity operations while remaining regulatory compliant. Faced with rising cyber risks and anticipated cybersecurity laws such as DORA, MiCA, and NIS2, fintechs want future-proof systems that can dynamically respond to external changes while reducing existing vulnerabilities.
The company’s long-term plans include introducing news features such as phishing drills, a “panic button” for urgent situations, and nano services for improved security coverage, a premium option that is generally out of reach for small businesses.
