CyberFox Lands 9-Figure Backing to Grow SMB Cybersecurity

A PAM and password management startup led by the co-founder of ConnectWise received growth financing to capitalize on the rise of vibe-coding in software development.

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Tampa, Florida-based CyberFox plans to use the “nine-figure” growth investment from Level Equity to hire elite AI developers, re-architect products to be AI-native, expand internationally and pursue M&A to broaden the security portfolio, said CEO David Bellini. While he didn’t disclose the investment amount, Bellini said the funding will support CyberFox’s strategy of balancing strong security with usability and affordability to become the “Palo Alto Networks of SMB.”

“We had an exit with ConnectWise, so we kind of self-funded this and we weren’t looking,” Bellini told Information Security Media Group. “But these Level Equity guys came by, and we really started liking them. We started talking with them a lot, and they were a good fit for us. It just really felt right.”

CyberFox, formed in 2022 through the merger AutoElevate and Password Boss, employs 110 people and hadn’t disclosed any outside funding until now. The company has been led since inception by Bellini, who co-founded professional services automation giant ConnectWise in 1982, served as the company’s chief operating officer until June 2015 and sold the company to Thoma Bravo for a reported $1.5 billion.

How CyberFox Will Tap Into AI-Driven Software Development

The accelerating shift toward AI-driven software development and vibe coding is a once-in-a-generation platform transition which will create clear winners and losers, Bellini said. Level Equity’s hands-off approach, willingness to let management retain control and strategic fit made them an appealing partner at precisely the moment when CyberFox wanted to move faster without sacrificing autonomy.

“Level has been fantastic,” Bellini said. “It’s hands off, let you do what you want to do. So, we’re really excited about that.”

Bellini said CyberFox plans to rethink its existing software architecture in light of AI-driven development. Drawing from his ConnectWise experience, Bellini compares the current moment to the industry’s shift from on-premises software to internet-based platforms, which ultimately required rewriting products from the ground up.

“There’s going to be winners and losers on the whole AI being able to vibe code,” Bellini said. “It’s a whole new paradigm shift. And I think this will help us get in front of the curve so we’re on that winning side. We’re small, we’re nimble still. I’d be worried if I was a big, large software company with all this new AI vibe coding coming out.”

Bellini said there’s a small percentage who fully embrace AI and achieve dramatic productivity gains, a larger middle group cautiously adopting it and a final segment resistant to change. The real competitive advantage lies in rapidly moving the middle group up the adoption curve while recruiting elite AI-native developers who can operate at radically higher output levels, according to Bellini.

“When I was with ConnectWise, we had ConnectWise Manage,” Bellini said. “When we first started out, that used to run on just an SQL Server under your roof. And then when the internet came along, we really had to rewrite the whole thing. So, I think the same thing’s going to happen here with AI. I wouldn’t be surprised that you have to redo it from the ground up to take advantage of all the AI elements.”

From Privileged Access, Password Management to Allowlisting

Small to medium-sized businesses are fundamentally different from large enterprises not just in size, but in budget constraints, IT maturity and operational realities, and Bellini said approximately 75% of CyberFox’s revenue flows through the managed service provider channel. But SMBs are structurally underserved because their deals are too small and support-intensive for large enterprise vendors, Bellini said.

“We’re servicing that small, medium-sized business,” Bellini said. “They can’t afford to pay an IT company for IT software 300 bucks per month per employee. Our goal is to make the products cheaper with AI. If it takes us one-tenth of the time to write software, you can sell it for less too. Everyone will get less expensive products, and that will help everyone.”

At the heart of CyberFox’s portfolio is Auto Elevate, a least-privilege access and PAM solution designed specifically for SMB environments to manage permissions without overwhelming end users or IT teams. Beyond PAM, CyberFox expanded into adjacent security needs that are foundational for SMBs, including a password manager and a DNS filtering product, rebuilt internally using modern development practices.

“We all turned on group policies on Microsoft about 20 years ago, and within 24 hours, we all turned it off because it basically just caused so much noise and chaos,” Bellini said. “So, our flagship product called Auto Elevate really fixed that problem. It’s a least privileged product, PAM type product, very easy to use, very simplistic, inexpensive.”

Allowlisting is particularly challenging in SMB contexts since employees wear multiple hats, workflows change frequently and new tools are adopted on the fly, Bellini said. Conversely, in large enterprises, employees tend to have narrowly defined roles and predictable application usage, making allowlisting manageable. Poorly implemented allowlisting can effectively disrupt machines and the business.

“The problem you have with any type of allowlisting in SMB is you got a lot of people wearing a lot of different hats,” Bellini said. “So, what happens is it actually ends up bricking the computer and creating a lot of noise. You have to work hard on making an allowlisting product that’s very, very just in time, works well and is very secure.”