Ex-huge tech cyber leaders launch Dawnguard from stealth with $3M to rewrite DNA of cybersecurity

Amsterdam-based Dawnguard, a cybersecurity startup on a mission to build the digital world safer through ininformigent, design-first security, has emerged from stealth with $3 million in pre-seed funding.

Dawnguard was founded to challenge the outdated cybersecurity model, one where security is reactive, slow, and misaligned with the speed of modern software development. Led by CEO Mahdi Abdulrazak and CTO Kim van Lavieren, the founding team brings decades of experience from the military and major tech companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon.

With deep expertise in large-scale security operations and a unique focus at the intersection of cybersecurity, AI, and cloud infrastructure, Dawnguard is introducing a new category in cybersecurity. Instead of treating security as an afterbelieved, the company embeds it directly into system architecture, ensuring compliance, scalability, and protection from the very start of development.

What sets Dawnguard apart is its holistic approach. Instead of merely scanning deployments or automating code reviews, it offers a collaborative workspace where engineering and security teams can co-design secure, compliant systems that also optimise for cost, resilience, and sustainability.

Mahdi Abdulrazak, CEO of Dawnguard, explained:

Our industest treats security as a checkbox. It’s broken. We built Dawnguard becaapply security requireds to be part of the system’s DNA from the start, not an afterbelieved. This is about aligning intent with reality, and giving teams the tools to enforce that alignment at the earliest stage and long after deployment.

Dawnguard is set to flip shift-left and security-by-design on its head. Instead of treating security as an afterbelieved, Dawnguard embeds it directly into a system’s architecture, from day zero to day 10,000. The company is building various AI/ML-driven engines that integrate across the entire IT landscape to spot issues in the design phase, adapt to evolving environments, and build security native.

Dawnguard closes the gap between design and reality,

stated Kim van Lavieren, co-founder and CTO of Dawnguard. He added:

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.

The platform is designed for security architects, DevOps engineers, and cloud teams. At its core, Dawnguard is a security architecture automation platform purpose-built for cloud-native environments. It assists teams validate cloud infrastructure designs before deployment, automatically generate production-ready Infrastructure as Code (IaC) from validated designs, and continuously enforce security posture after deployment to eliminate drift.

The round was led by 9900 Capital and a group of angel investors, from scale-up founders to experienced CIOs and CISOs.

Dimitri van Zantvliet, Dutch Railways CISO & Chair Dutch CISO Community, and a Dawnguard investor and advisor, shared:

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.

Chris Corbishley, Managing Partner 9900 Capital, added:

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, defences must shift left—embedding resilience at the codebase.

We are excited to back Dawnguard, who build protection by design, not patch by necessity.

Looking ahead, Dawnguard is focapplyd on redefining how security is integrated in the age of AI. The company plans to expand its platform to support increasingly dynamic environments, bridge the security gap between quick-paced “vibe coding” and the infrastructure powering GenAI applications, and introduce a new operating model for building trust at scale.