The Internet today has a new worry. Alongside vibe coding tools, and the codebases, sites and apps built with them, security issues and blind spots have proliferated, too.
Cybersecurity company Guardio is taking aim at a fresh market born amid this flux: finding malicious code written using AI tools. The company says it has found that with AI tools, malicious actors now find it easier than ever to build scam and phishing sites as well as the infrastructure needed to run them.
Now, Guardio is leveraging its experience building browser extensions and apps that scan for malicious and phishing sites to build a tool that looks for artifacts in code and websites made with vibe coding tools.
It’s already found a buyer. Earlier this month, Lovable announced a partnership with Guardio to scan all websites made on its platform and weed out the ones that may pose threats to users. The deal came after a report highlighted that several sites built on Lovable had gaping security holes.
“Everyone is racing for innovation and market capture. But security is kind of an afterthought. And not many AI tools are partnering with any cybersecurity company to make sure that content generated on their platform is secured and used for good,” Michael Vainshtein, the startup’s CTO, told TechCrunch.
To fund its expansion, the company has raised $80 million in a new institutional funding round led by ION Crossover Partners. Existing backers Union Tech Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, and Emerge also invested.
Image Credits: Guardio
Guardio, founded in 2018 by Vainshtein, CEO Amos Peled, and chief architect Daniel Sirota, did not disclose its exact valuation, but it did say that it has tripled its valuation since its previous fundraise: a $47 million round led by Tiger Global in 2021. The company, however, said it doesn’t consider itself a unicorn yet.
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Guardio started out as a browser extension that would monitor malicious sites and alert users about data leaks. Since then, it has added phishing protection, and built mobile apps that offer identity management, spam filtering, and scam protection. The company says today it has 500,000 paying users, and claims it reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue this year.
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