Gambit Cyber, an AI-native cybersecurity startup headquartered in Leiden, Netherlands, has successfully raised $3.4 million in a seed funding round to accelerate the development and global expansion of its KnightGuard continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) platform. The round was led by Expeditions, a European cybersecurity-focused early-stage investor, with strategic participation from Bitdefender Voyager Ventures, the investment arm of global cybersecurity leader Bitdefender.
Founded in 2024, Gambit Cyber is building what it describes as a preemptive and risk-centric approach to cybersecurity. Its flagship product, KnightGuard, is positioned as an AI-powered CTEM platform designed to help organizations continuously identify, validate, and reduce cyber risk before adversaries exploit critical gaps. Rather than relying solely on traditional defensive tools that react only after threats are detected, KnightGuard emphasizes proactive exposure discovery and remediation prioritization through a mesh of specialized AI agents working in concert with existing security infrastructure.
According to the company’s official website, KnightGuard’s architecture includes a coordinated mesh of AI agents that automate and enhance core functions such as threat intelligence processing, security operations analytics, red- and blue-team emulation, and IT operations playbook generation. These AI agents help translate unstructured threat data into actionable insights, generate detection analytics compatible with SIEM and other tools, emulate threat campaigns to validate defenses, and produce context-specific remediation playbooks. This integrated, AI-centric strategy is intended to reduce alert fatigue, accelerate incident validation, and empower security teams to prioritize and fix the vulnerabilities that matter most.
Market Traction and Strategic Growth
Gambit Cyber has reported early traction with enterprise organizations and managed security service providers (MSSPs) across key verticals that include financial services, telecommunications, and critical infrastructure sectors. Initial deployments have taken place in regions such as India, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Europe—reflecting a broad geographic interest in CTEM capabilities amid rising global cybersecurity challenges.
The company also maintains teams and channel partners across several strategic markets, including the United Kingdom, UAE, Australia, and India, helping support localized sales, implementation efforts, and partner growth. This reflects the rising demand for AI-enabled defensive technologies, especially in regions where digital transformation and rapidly expanding attack surfaces are increasing the urgency for proactive cybersecurity solutions.
Funding Purpose and Strategic Roadmap
Gambit Cyber said it will deploy the freshly raised capital to bolster multiple aspects of its business. Key priorities include:
- Scaling product engineering and expanding the library of AI agents that power KnightGuard’s automated capabilities.
- Accelerating international expansion across Europe, the UAE, and Asia-Pacific, including deeper regional customer engagement and support.
- Expanding strategic partnerships with MSSPs, telecom providers, and cloud platforms to embed CTEM capabilities more broadly across security ecosystems.
The investment also signals growing confidence from cybersecurity investors in preemptive cybersecurity approaches that address modern challenges such as the increasing sophistication of AI-enabled threat actors and a persistent global shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals. By embedding automation and AI at the heart of its platform, Gambit Cyber aims to deliver measurable risk reduction and enhanced operational efficiency for enterprise security teams.
Leadership and Vision
Co-founders Anuj Kumar and Manuj Kumar are leading Gambit Cyber’s strategic vision, emphasizing the shift from reactive defense toward real-time, risk-centric threat exposure management. “This investment validates our mission to reinvent how organizations understand and respond to cyber risks and become future-ready,” the co-founders said, underscoring their belief that AI-native, proactive solutions will be foundational for the next generation of enterprise security operations.
Expeditions’ Founding Partner Mikolaj Firlej echoed this view, highlighting Gambit Cyber’s potential to become a core provider for organizations adopting CTEM and AI-driven defensive technologies. With support from experienced investors and an expanding customer base across critical global markets, Gambit Cyber is positioned to play a growing role in the evolving cybersecurity landscape.
