Cyber Guru is an effective cybersecurity awareness training platform that enables organisations to increase their resistance to cyber-attacks by changing employee behaviour. In a recent development, the Rome-based tech company has raised $25 million in Series B funding.
Investment details
Riverside Acceleration Capital, a growth equity investment firm based in the US, led the round with participation from Educapital (which invested in Lepaya and Preply), the largest European Edtech and Future of Work focused investment fund, and existing investors Adara Ventures and P101 Ventures.
The investment will capitalise on Cyber Guru’s market position by accelerating the company’s aggressive AI-driven contextual training roadmap, increasing sales and marketing resources, and expanding its operations across Europe to sustain its continued customer growth.
Need for security awareness training
The human factor remains the most vulnerable link in the cybersecurity chain. Just one careless action can expose your organisation to cybercrime. To safeguard against these threats, it is crucial to transform the digital behaviours of every employee through effective security awareness training programmes to understand cyber risks. Effective training goes beyond simply sharing information. It must actively transform user behavior to align with emerging threats.
To achieve this, it’s necessary to transcend traditional training methods by implementing a platform that uses advanced multimedia systems and fully engages all users.
The Cyber Guru Security Awareness platform plays a role here by optimising learning processes and reinforcing cybersecurity awareness over time.
What does the company do?
Founded by Gianni Baroni in 2017, Cyber Guru delivers a comprehensive and modern security awareness training platform to security leaders of organisations of any size and vertical. It has over 700 customers benefiting from a complete platform to change employee behaviours, manage human risk, and achieve compliance with minimal resources.
Currently, over 1 million active users in more than 90 countries are continuously trained by the platform’s automated training paths, which are based on advanced learning methodologies and powered by a proprietary AI-driven Machine Learning model. This platform focuses on altering user behaviour by enhancing three critical defensive traits – knowledge, perception of danger, and readiness.
“Securing this investment from Riverside and Educapital, along with the continued support from Adara and P101, is a monumental step in our journey to scale internationally. Our mission is to improve an organisation’s resistance to cyberattacks, by transforming user behaviour. With our proprietary Machine Learning model and the use of advanced learning methodologies, we’ve built a comprehensive security awareness training platform that is effective in managing and reducing human risk, and now we are poised to take this vision worldwide,” said Gianni Baroni, CEO and founder of Cyber Guru.
“We see tremendous value in Cyber Guru’s innovative approach to cybersecurity awareness, particularly their ability to deliver strong engagement rates through AI-driven automation and adaptive learning. We believe the company’s focus on behavioural science and its exclusive Machine Learning model sets it apart in the market. Our investment reflects our confidence in their ability to become a European leader in security awareness training, while helping organisations achieve compliance and strengthen their human security posture. We’re excited to continue to support Cyber Guru as they scale their operations and accelerate Research & Development efforts,” said Christian Stein, Partner at Riverside Acceleration Capital.
“Speaking to clients, we were impressed by Cyber Guru’s effectiveness in mitigating human risk and how well it adapts to users’ training needs. We’re proud to support Gianni and his team in their international expansion,” said Jonathan Denais, Investment Director at Educapital.