Huskeys, an Edge Security Management startup, emerges from stealth after securing $8 million in seed funding aimed at tackling long-standing issues in web application security.
The funding round attracted a diverse array of investors, including venture capital firms, cybersecurity experts, and even athletes. Notable VC contributors included 10D, SV Angel, toDay Ventures (part of Merlin Ventures), CCL, and Alumni Ventures. Additionally, prominent figures in cybersecurity such as Ariel Maislos, Michael Dolinsky, Benny Schnaider, Ofer Ben-Noon, Maty Siman, and Slavik Markovich were among the angel investors involved.
In a unique twist, Huskeys’ seed round also saw participation from over 30 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) representing major global organizations. Furthermore, athlete angel investors included renowned footballer Mario Götze, NFL player Kelvin Beachum, and future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald, as well as venture partners like The Players Fund and stakeholders from Como 1907.
In tandem with the funding announcement, Huskeys launched its innovative Edge Security Management platform. Utilizing patent-pending technology, the platform adds an agentic layer over existing security infrastructures rather than replacing them. This allows for plug-and-play deployment across multi-cloud and multi-WAF environments, serving as an intelligence control plane. It effectively integrates Content Delivery Network (CDN), Web Application Firewall (WAF), infrastructure, and application flows, leveraging AI to abstract provider-specific syntax and continuously adapt rules and configurations based on traffic patterns, business logic, and risk evaluations.
The platform has already garnered attention from several high-profile clients, including TikTok, Merlin Entertainments, and Hugging Face, demonstrating its capacity to meet the demands of large-scale enterprises.
Huskeys CEO and co-founder Itai Gafni highlighted the evolving landscape of web traffic, stating that the shift from human users to APIs and then to automated agents has complicated the task of distinguishing legitimate traffic from malicious activity. He emphasized the challenges security teams face, noting that many have lost faith in their WAF solutions due to the harsh trade-offs presented—risking the blocking of legitimate customers or leaving vulnerabilities exposed to modern cyber threats.
Co-founder and CTO Roy Weisfeld shared insights into the motivation behind Huskeys, reflecting on how the team originally crossed paths while collaborating on a project aimed at improving web hacking techniques to bypass existing WAF solutions. He expressed astonishment at how easily they were able to circumvent these systems, underscoring the need for more robust security measures.