Cytix

Manchester-based Cytix has raised the money in a round co-led by the NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance, which is managed by Praetura Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.

The business presents an alternative approach to annual penetration testing. Cytix enables companies to identify high risk vulnerabilities during code development, resulting in vulnerabilities being caught much earlier than traditional security testing options.

According to Cytix, many automated testing solutions miss about 20% of vulnerabilities that can only be found via manual testing methods, which often leaves businesses waiting up to a year for them to be uncovered with a traditional penetration test.

The cybersecurity specialist remedies this by analysing every development change a business makes in real-time, predicting potential security flaws and orchestrating immediate testing instead of ad-hoc reviews.

Cytix’s customers span multiple sectors and include the stablecoin fintech BNVK, medical clinical trials experts Protas and the bot prevention company Netacea as well as Cambridge University’s research and publishing arm, Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

The business plans to use the funding to double its client base within the next 12 months and further develop its product offering for the enterprise market, with plans to target the banking sector, financial services and fast-growing software businesses.

Founded in 2022 by Ben Armstrong, Thomas Ballin and Matt Milan, the business is one of the latest companies to be funded by the British Business Bank’s £660m NPIF II, with French VC Auriga and Cytix’s existing funder SFC Capital also investing.