Child Hacker Turned CEO’s AI-Powered Cybersecurity Company Raises $13.5 Million

“It all began with a little kid hacking for fun.” When he was a little boy Santiago Rosenblatt - Founder & CEO, Strike didn’t even think he would solve the world’s cybersecurity issue. All he wanted to do was watch Kobe Bryant play for the Lakers. From ages 6 to 16, he used to hack games, the official NBA League Pass and systems like PayPal and that’s when he realised that there is a loop hole. He started his journey in the cybersecurity industry by hacking enterprises since a young age. That gave birth to his understanding of one of the biggest cybersecurity problems. Santiago leveraged his expertise to protect numerous renowned global companies, including ScotiaBank and dLocal, from cyberattacks. But he was still perplexed with one issue and that is the cost of the defending companies. During his tenure as Head of Application Security at DeliveryHero, he observed that defensive measures for corporations incurred significantly greater expenses than offensive operations. Consequently, he resolved to redress this imbalance. The solution came in form of a a new product and that is Augmented Pentesting. The company's core focus is on blockchain-based payments and financial services. Hence, pentesting is essential to maintain the platform's security and safeguard users' sensitive financial information. AI-Powered Pentesting at Scale Strike delivers AI-powered continuous penetration testing at scale by connecting world-class ethical hackers with over 100 enterprises. Strike enables companies to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats by launching penetration tests in as little as 2 hours, monitoring vulnerabilities in real time, and generating compliance reports in seconds. As cybersecurity threats have become more futuristic, Strike’s AI-driven continuous pentesting platform ensures that enterprises remain one step ahead. It is designed to help clients be proactive in fixing every vulnerability found along with a real-time alert with every finding with suggestions on how to solve it. AI and machine learning algorithms can detect anomalies in system behavior that may indicate a potential vulnerability or breach. In the context of pentesting, AI could help flag unusual activity or patterns within the platform's network traffic, which might be indicative of a cyberattack, allowing security teams to react faster and mitigate threats in real-time. With a mission to focus on improving visibility, traceability, and integrations to make security management more efficient than ever, the team of Strike has introduced some new features recently and that in Vulnerability activity log, which allows users to monitor and audit every chance in the vulnerabilities lifestyle. This just not ends here, there new updates on Microsoft Teams, Slack, and the Strike platform will all provide customers with real-time access to security insights. Jira, API, and Slack integrations are leveraged by leading organizations like Okta, Globant, DeliveryHero, and Santander Bank to effectively manage vulnerabilities. Fueling Growth and Innovation As this New York-based cybersecurity startup became a household name for such multinational companies, they have successfully raised $13.5 million in Series A funding. The company firmly believes that this investment will accelerate the development of Strike360, their innovative AI-powered pentesting engine, which automates security testing from discovery to retesting and remediation. Additionally, the investment will fuel our expansion into the U.S. and Brazil. This funding round, which was led by FinTech Collective and supported by prominent investors including Galicia Ventures and Greyhound Capital, confirms their vision to transform the cybersecurity industry. With this funding the company plans to automate 50% of the pentesting process by the end of 2025 and is positioned to surpass eight figures in ARR at the end of this year. As the CEO, Santiago Rosenblatt, said, “Strike is flipping the script on traditional security testing. Our AI-driven platform will accelerate vulnerability detection and remediation at a scale never seen before.” Strike provides scalable, AI-powered, continuous penetration testing by connecting world-class ethical hackers with over 100 enterprises. It enables companies to launch penetration tests within 2 hours, monitor vulnerabilities in real-time, and instantly generate compliance reports, helping them stay ahead of evolving cyber threats. Some of the immediate competitors to Strike in the AI-powered penetration testing and vulnerability management sector includes Cobalt, Verizon Threat Intelligence and so on. Strike's blend of speed, automation, AI-driven continuous testing, and real-time monitoring is what sets it apart from its competitors, offering a more efficient, scalable, and responsive penetration testing service for modern enterprises.

Child Hacker Turned CEO’s AI-Powered Cybersecurity Company Raises $13.5 Million

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