Dawnguard raises USD $3m to embed security at design stage

Amsterdam-based cybersecurity startup Dawnguard has emerged from stealth with a pre-seed funding round totalling USD $3 million.

The funding was led by 9900 Capital alongside a group of angel investors including scale-up founders and current CIOs and CISOs. This financial backing will be allocated to expanding Dawnguard's engineering team, enhancing enterprise integrations, and progressing the company's platform towards broader production deployments.

Embedded approach

Dawnguard has set out to introduce a new approach to cybersecurity by embedding security directly into system architecture, rather than bolting it on at later stages. This model ensures secure, compliant, and scalable systems from initial design through to deployment and beyond.

"Our industry treats security as a checkbox. It's broken. We built Dawnguard because security needs to be part of the system's DNA from the start, not an afterthought. This is about aligning intent with reality, and giving teams the tools to enforce that alignment at the earliest stage and long after deployment," said Mahdi Abdulrazak, CEO of Dawnguard. 

Dawnguard's platform is designed to provide a collaborative canvas for engineers and security professionals, aiming to bridge the historic gap between system design and security implementation. The company distinguishes itself by not only scanning deployments or automating reviews but facilitating ongoing alignment of enterprise security goals within the architecture itself.

The startup's founding team is composed of cybersecurity specialists with backgrounds at IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, and the military. CEO Mahdi Abdulrazak and CTO Kim van Lavieren lead the team, bringing substantial experience in running large-scale security operations and in applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to cloud environments.

AI and automation at the core

Dawnguard is building AI and machine learning engines to identify vulnerabilities during the design phase of IT projects and maintain security as systems evolve. This proactive model is intended to allow security decisions to be enforced early and consistently, addressing risks before systems go into production and responding dynamically as new vulnerabilities and threats emerge.

"Dawnguard closes the gap between design and reality. We're giving teams the power to translate security intent into enforceable code so they don't have to rely on spreadsheets, static docs, or guesswork," said Kim van Lavieren.

The platform targets security architects, DevOps engineers, and cloud teams. It enables users to validate cloud infrastructure designs pre-deployment, automatically generate production-ready Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using validated models, and keep enforcing security posture throughout the system lifecycle, helping to pre-empt issues and avoid post-deployment drift.

Industry response and investment

"Dawnguard isn't just building tech - they're rewriting the DNA of cybersecurity. In a world addicted to patching symptoms, they've chosen to re-engineer the root. That's not just bold - it's necessary," said Dimitri van Zantvliet, Dutch Railways CISO & Chair Dutch CISO Community, and a Dawnguard investor and advisor.

"Hundreds of security tools overwhelm CISOs with promises of better detection, yet few tackle the root issue: design flaws in code that AI-driven threats exploit. As attacks grow smarter, defenses must shift left - embedding resilience at the codebase. We are excited to back Dawnguard, who build protection by design, not patch by necessity," said Chris Corbishley, Managing Partner 9900 Capital.

Future plans

Dawnguard intends to grow its platform capabilities to support increasingly dynamic operational environments. Plans include addressing the security risks presented by rapid AI-driven development methodologies and bridging the gap between quickly prototyped software and the infrastructure it runs on.

The company is also working on a new operational model aimed at enabling organisations to create scalable, trustworthy systems that can better resist emerging digital threats.

"With software moving faster than ever, security can't be stuck in the past," Abdulrazak said. "We're creating the platform that makes secure architecture not just possible, but inevitable."