The Hague-based Dawnguard, a cybersecurity startup, has exited stealth mode with $3M (nearly €2.62M) in pre-seed funding. The round was led by 9900 Capital and supported by angel investors, including company founders and experienced CIOs and CISOs.
Dawnguard is developing a cybersecurity approach that places security at the centre of system architecture during the early stages of development, rather than adding it later in the process.
Chris Corbishley, Managing Partner 9900 Capital, says, “Hundreds of security tools overwhelm CISOs with promises of better detection, yet few tackle the root issue: design flaws in code that AI-driven threats exploit. As attacks grow smarter, defences must shift left—embedding resilience at the codebase. We are excited to back Dawnguard, who build protection by design, not patch by necessity.”
On a mission to redefine cybersecurity
Dawnguard is a cybersecurity company that addresses problems in security architecture. The company was founded by a team with experience in security teams and cloud security, including CEO Mahdi Abdulrazak and CTO Kim van Lavieren. The founders worked at companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon.
The company identifies issues with security processes: manual reviews, scattered documentation, and processes that do not reflect system design intent. The security model was reactive, inconsistent, and disconnected from the development pace.
Dawnguard’s platform validates architecture from the beginning, generates infrastructure as code, and aligns security posture after deployment. The platform provides a canvas for engineering and security teams to collaborate on architecture that balances cost, resilience, and sustainability.
The company embeds security into system architecture from day zero to day 10,000. Dawnguard builds AI/ML engines that integrate across IT landscapes to identify issues in the design phase, adapt to environments, and make security native. The approach scans deployments and automates reviews while shifting security left rather than treating it as an afterthought.
CTO Kim van Lavieren says, “Dawnguard closes the gap between design and reality. We’re giving teams the power to translate security intent into enforceable code so they don’t have to rely on spreadsheets, static docs, or guesswork.”
Dawnguard is designed for security architects, DevOps engineers, and cloud teams. It enables validation of cloud infrastructure designs before deployment, generates production-ready Infrastructure as Code (IaC) from those designs, and continuously enforces security posture after deployment to eliminate drift.
“Dawnguard isn’t just building tech — they’re rewriting the DNA of cybersecurity. In a world addicted to patching symptoms, they’ve chosen to re-engineer the root. That’s not just bold — it’s necessary,” adds Dimitri van Zantvliet, Dutch Railways CISO & Chair Dutch CISO Community, and a Dawnguard investor and advisor.
Capital utilisation
Dawnguard plans to use the funds to grow its engineering team, strengthen enterprise system integrations, and drive platform adoption.
The company also aims to adapt its platform for dynamic environments, address security gaps in GenAI-driven development, and establish a new model for building trust at scale.
Mahdi Abdulrazak, CEO of Dawnguard, says, “Our industry treats security as a checkbox. It’s broken. We built Dawnguard because security needs to be part of the system’s DNA from the start, not an afterthought. This is about aligning intent with reality, and giving teams the tools to enforce that alignment at the earliest stage and long after deployment.”
“With software moving faster than ever, security can’t be stuck in the past,” adds Abdulrazak. “We’re creating the platform that makes secure architecture not just possible, but inevitable.”
