Botguard Raises €45mm Round B From Dawn Capital, Rebrands To Blackwall

We are thrilled to announce that Blackwall has secured a €45 million Series B funding round, led by Dawn Capital, with participation from our existing investors at MMC. This marks a major milestone in our journey to redefine AI-driven security and web infrastructure.

I’d like to welcome to our Board of Directors, Norman Fiore, Co-Founder & GP at Dawn Capital, Shamillah Bankiya, Principal at Dawn Capital as observer, and our new Executive Chairman, Roi Carthy, Co-Founder & CEO at Hudson Rock.

Along with this new round of capital, we have rebranded as Blackwall, a name that reflects our unwavering commitment to fortifying digital landscapes against malicious threats.

Why Blackwall Matters

Did you know that bots make up 50% of all web traffic? Even more concerning, 66% of this bot traffic is malicious, probing for vulnerabilities, launching attacks, and inflating infrastructure costs.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are prime targets, with 43% of cyberattacks directed at them — yet most security solutions are built and priced for large enterprises, leaving SMBs exposed. As the cost of infrastructure rises due to unwanted bot activity, the need for tailored, cost-effective cybersecurity solutions has never been greater.

This is where Blackwall comes in. Hosting Service Providers (HSPs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs) — companies that collectively host millions of websites — use our technology to safeguard their networks and customers. In fact, Blackwall currently protects over 2.3 million websites and applications, shielding them from automated attacks that slow down services, inflate infrastructure costs, and put businesses at risk.

How Blackwall Helps: Smarter, Cost-Efficient Security

The surge of AI-driven bot activity has made automated attacks more sophisticated and frequent, forcing HSPs and MSPs to seek external solutions that are both effective and cost-efficient.

Blackwall’s flagship product — GateKeeper — not only defends against these threats but also empowers our partners with tools to create new, recurring revenue streams through robust security offerings.

For the engineering folks in the audience, GateKeeper is an advanced reverse proxy fortified with next-generation bot and attack detection mechanisms. It obfuscates backend infrastructure, shielding it from reconnaissance and volumetric L7 attacks, while simultaneously optimizing traffic flow.

GateKeeper mitigates a broad spectrum of web threats, including L7 DDoS attacks, brute-force attempts, and automated bot traffic — ensuring only legitimate requests reach the application layer.

Fueling Global Expansion & Innovation

With this new funding, we are set to double our headcount as we expand further into the U.S. and APAC markets. Our goal is to strengthen our channel partnerships and accelerate the rollout of new security applications.

We also intend to put even greater emphasis on R&D to better serve our partners with additional infrastructure and security products.

Remembering How it All Started

Blackwall’s story began in Tallinn, Estonia, when Denis built a small hobby website for sharing veggie recipes, only to watch it get relentlessly attacked by bots. Frustrated, we teamed-up with and together, we set out to create a better way to protect against malicious bots.

Fast forward six years… Blackwall today employs 65 incredible team members globally, with over 100 partners around the world. Thank you all!

Here’s to a safer, stronger internet for all — Nik & Denis.