Estonian Cybersecurity Scale-Up BlackWall Secures USD 45M to Combat Evolving Bot Threats

• BlackWall, formerly BotGuard, attracts USD 45M in Series B funding led by Dawn Capital
• The startup specializes in AI-powered bot detection, protecting websites, APIs, and apps from automated threats
• It rebranded to reflect a broader cybersecurity focus, expanding beyond bot protection to SMBs
• The new funding will support development of more innovative solutions for businesses needing advanced security.

This March, the well-known Estonian cybersecurity SaaS BlackWall (formerly known as BotGuard) raised its Series B round of USD 45M. The round was led by Dawn Capital, joined by the startup’s previous supporters, including MMC Ventures, Expeditions Fund, and the well-known Estonian VC firm Tera Ventures (invested in Mifundo, among others).

Blackwall in a Nutshell

Founded in 2019 by Nikita Rozenberg (CEO) and Denis Prochko (CTO), BlackWall is a Tallinn-based cybersecurity company that specializes in AI-powered solutions to detect and block malicious bot traffic targeting websites, APIs, and apps. Its technology uses machine learning and real-time behavioral analysis to differentiate between legitimate users and harmful automated interactions, helping businesses protect against threats like credential stuffing, data scraping, and ad fraud.

Designed to be lightweight, cloud-native, and easily integrated, BlackWall’s product filters out fraudulent and non-human traffic before it can impact site performance, analytics, or ad spend. By ensuring that only genuine users interact with digital services, Blackwall helps businesses improve operational efficiency, maintain accurate data, and protect their revenue streams.

BlackWall’s flagship product is GateKeeper, the reverse proxy that uses AI to analyze traffic and block malicious requests in real time, including bots and other intruders. It is especially valuable for SMBs who cannot afford proprietary counter-measures. As such, BlackWall’s clients are web hosting providers and eCommerce platforms offering their services to SMBs.

Smarter Bots Demand Smarter Security

It was only roughly a year ago that Blackwall (then BotGuard) raised its Series A round of EUR 12M. Since then, the threat from malicious bots hasn’t just grown—it’s evolved. Blackwall observes fewer low-level attacks, but with the bots themselves getting much smarter. According to Mr Rozenberg, today’s threats are more targeted, harder to detect, and often built with tools that mimic human behavior almost perfectly. They can bypass CAPTCHAs, interact with websites like real users, and slip through older security filters without raising red flags.

Indeed, according to this year’s report by Imperva, the proportion of bad bots in global traffic grew to 37%. Overall, automated traffic superseded human traffic for the first time—51% of all requests on the web. At the same time, according to Cloudflare, over 21 million DDoS attacks were blocked in 2024—53% more than in 2023. Among them, the most massive attack in history, with a volume of 5.6 Tbit/s.

‘Despite regular standing investments in cyber security, only 20% service providers feel ready to mitigate such attacks. Bot networks constantly evolve and adapt, making it more difficult to detect and neutralize them. This is why effective defense must begin not after an incident but timely,’ Olga Voloshyna, Chairperson of the Committee on IT and Cyber Security of the German-Ukrainian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, comments.

‘All of this reinforces what we’ve believed from the beginning: basic defenses aren’t enough. The new generation of bots requires smarter, more adaptive protection,’ Mr Rozenberg states.

BotGuard rebranded to BlackWall to reflect its broader focus beyond bot protection. It was Mr Prochko who chose the new name as a reference to the video game Cyberpunk 2077, where the ‘Blackwall’ is a powerful digital barrier guarding the Net from rogue AIs. The rebrand signals the company’s evolution toward more comprehensive cybersecurity solutions.

‘We’re stepping up our mission: bringing top-tier infrastructure protection to the small and mid-sized businesses that have long been underserved. That means going beyond just bot mitigation—expanding our reach globally and pushing innovation even further to support the businesses that need it most,’ Mr Rozenberg explains the new name.

Partner-Led Development and Measurable Impact

According to BlackWall’s numbers, partners have seen Blackwall technology keep websites and applications safe by filtering out ~35% of traffic on average. Reportedly, partners have also seen a boost of efficiency by having Blackwall maximize server farm user density, through infrastructure optimizing, resulting in reduced operational costs of 10–25%.

Since Blackwall works directly with service providers and not with individual end users, its customers see the relevant threats up close, and they know what their customers need most. That’s why Blackwall builds feedback into every stage of its process.

‘We keep close, ongoing contact with our partners through regular check-ins, support channels, and joint product reviews. That real-world feedback loop—seeing how our GateKeeper performs across millions of websites—lets us evolve faster and stay responsive as threats change. At the end of the day, our product exists to make our partners stronger. So we treat their feedback like a roadmap,’ Mr Rozenberg tells ITKeyMedia.

Looking Ahead: Innovation Beyond GateKeeper

In this key, the new funding will support development of BlackWall’s new products beyond GateKeeper. The team hints at a number of novelties on the roadmap for the next few months, even if they are not ready to share more details just now.

‘What we can say is that it is about more than just adding features – it’s about serving the businesses that need it the most with simple to deploy, yet powerful, solutions that solve their real-world problems,’ the CEO concludes.

As malicious bots and automated threats continue to grow in volume, complexity, and sophistication, the need for advanced, adaptive cybersecurity solutions, in turn, grows more and more critical. BlackWall’s mission to equip underserved SMBs with enterprise-grade protection underscores a broader industry shift: cybersecurity must be proactive, intelligent, and constantly evolving. In an internet landscape where automated traffic now exceeds that of humans, building resilient defenses isn’t just a competitive advantage—it becomes a necessity for survival.