Maro, a cognitive security platform designed to manage human risk in cybersecurity, has secured $4.3 million in seed funding from Downing Capital Group. This investment will aid team expansion, product development, and the company’s launch strategy.
Maro’s platform helps security leaders combat human errors and AI-exacerbated threats, including social engineering and insider risks. With 60% of data breaches involving human factors, Maro’s technology intervenes in real-time, providing visibility into workforce behaviors and reinforcing secure actions in daily workflows.
Founded in late 2024 by Jadon Montero (CEO), Gwen Betts (CXO), and Jen Andre (CTO), Maro leverages over 40 years of combined experience in building security companies, drawing expertise from firms such as Rapid7 and Symantec.
Created with insights from 50 CISOs and CIOs, Maro’s platform offers:
- Enforcement of behavioral policies within workflows.
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Prevention of data loss to AI chatbots.
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Interception of clickjacking and typosquatting.
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Defense against social engineering attacks.
Maro’s platform effectively identifies and mitigates human risk factors, enabling security leaders to prevent incidents and improve security coverage.
KEY QUOTES:
“When stress levels are high and attackers use that opportunity to manipulate your workforce into taking risky actions, Maro protects how people think, decide, and act. Maro’s founding team has deep cybersecurity experience solving human-focused problems, working together across three companies, including several with successful exits.”
Jesse Downing, CEO at Downing Capital Group
“Maro was born from our years spent inside broken security workflows where SOC analysts didn’t have time to speak directly to every employee who urgently needed their help after legacy tools failed to stop the employee from taking a risky action. The acceleration of generative AI, coupled with remote work and shadow software as a service (SaaS), exponentially increases the risk that users run afoul of company policy without even knowing it. With Maro, governance, risk, and compliance happen in the moment so that human risk is managed and mitigated – before issues even reach the SOC.”
Jadon Montero
