Defendify, a SaaS-delivered cybersecurity platform developer, has $1.6 million in new pre-seed funding to expand its core product and get new partners.

The pre-seed funding round was led by private investors with participation from Maine Technology Institute (MTI) and early stage cybersecurity industry investor 3dot6 Ventures. As small businesses grow and threats continue to evolve, Defendify says it scales to provide continuous protection.

Rob Simopoulos, Defendify co-founder, tells us his company is a “great fit” for a variety of channel partners, including MSPs, VARs, MSSPs, cybersecurity resellers, security integrators, systems contractors and others.

Defendify’s Rob Simopolous

“Defendify is a perfect opportunity for cybersecurity providers of all sizes and styles to bolster their capabilities,” he said. “Often providers are only able to deliver a couple [of] component parts … of what is needed to ensure a healthy, ongoing cybersecurity program. Defendify changes that drastically by giving partners access to over a dozen cybersecurity tools, all accessible through a single pane of glass, and going far beyond antivirus and firewalls with plans, policies, procedures, education, training, testing and technology. This helps to eliminate the need for a partner to have to develop – and manage – an often cumbersome and expensive stack of disparate products, services and vendors.”

Defendify also is seeing interest from partners who work mostly with the mid-to-enterprise end of the market, Simopoulos said.

“They are being asked frequently about cybersecurity protection by smaller but often robust business customers with growing needs,” he said. “While their typical enterprise-geared consulting and high technology solutions aren’t made to fit the budget of the SMB, Defendify allows them to easily offer similar-styled protection to the SMB customer through a comprehensive, layered solution at a remarkable price point.”

The funding not only helps Defendify bolster its team for channel partners, but also “enables us to expand our immersive ecosystem of sales enablement tools and content,” Simopoulos said. On the product development side, the funding allows Defendify to keep innovating and expanding its platform, including more features for partners and administrators, he said.

“As a SaaS product, we know how important it is to adhere to a model of continuous improvement,” he said. “Defendify offers a huge advantage to partners in terms of ROI and staying current with customer needs. It’s very simple to get up and running; an end-user customer can literally be up and running in minutes. With many automated features and reports and little support required, Defendify not only protects customers holistically but also protects channel partners, as it doesn’t take a toll on margins or help-desk resources.”

“SMBs are under immense pressure to find cybersecurity solutions that help meet regulatory needs and satisfy requirements coming from their customers,” said Jonathan Dambrot, 3dot6 investment partner. “Finding a way to do that holistically and at a reasonable price point has been very challenging, until now. Defendify solves a critical problem in a massive market that is largely ignored.”