The French startup Defants offers a semantic investigation tool to help companies fight against cyberattacks. The latter has just completed a fundraising of 2 million euros. We spoke with François Khourbiga, CEO and co-founder at Defants, with the aim of learning more about the future projects of this startup.
Everything you need to know about Defants
Who are you ?
Before founding Defants, I worked in various roles in the cybersecurity field, including as an incident response consultant and R&D project manager at Mandiant and Orange Cyberdefense. I also taught at CNAM Bretagne and at ESIEA on computer threat analysis, malicious codes and Reverse Engineering. My experience at the Ministry of the Armed Forces and at ANSSI as an expert in digital investigation and incident response allowed me to manage difficult, high-stakes situations. Throughout my career, I have demonstrated my commitment and passion for cybersecurity by helping organizations protect against increasingly complex threats.
Over time, the threat landscape has evolved significantly, making traditional DFIR (Incident Detection, Response and Investigation) methods increasingly obsolete. Attacks by ransomware and supply chain attacks are becoming more common, while state threat actors are becoming more sophisticated, creating significant challenges for responders in response to these incidents. As the founder of Defants, I am committed to helping organizations address these challenges and protect their digital assets against evolving threats.
What does Defants do?
I co-founded Defants with the goal of changing the way organizations approach cybersecurity and incident response. I firmly believe that incident response should be proactive and help businesses succeed and service companies protect against cyberattacks. Our goal is to become a European leader in cybersecurity by offering a comprehensive and innovative solution for digital investigation and response to security incidents. Our industry-leading platform integrates intuitive collaboration and intelligent automation to help our customers respond effectively and proactively to threats, and we already have the trust of Cyber Impact Ventures and Breizh-UP to achieve our ambition.
Defants fundraising
Why did you raise 2 million euros?
We welcomed Cyber Impact Ventures, an investment fund specializing in French and European cybersecurity start-ups, as well as the regional fund Breizh Up and three business angels in the capital of Defants. This fundraising aims to accelerate our commercial development to reach the broadest possible market, notably large companies and service providers, and to position ourselves as a leader in the field of cybersecurity. We also plan to recruit new DFIR experts to strengthen our team already made up of 12 people, in order to develop new innovative solutions and maintain our competitiveness.
Why did you choose to bring these investors into your capital?
Defants has chosen to include Cyber Impact Ventures and Bretagne Breizh U in its capital.
As a cybersecurity startup, we were convinced by the support offered by Cyber Impact Ventures. This investment fund offers real support in terms of mentoring, networking and sharing of experience, which makes it possible to significantly accelerate the development of the projects it finances.
In addition, we have been selected by Cyber Impact Ventures among the best European projects in the field of cybersecurity. The fund intervenes at an early stage to finance companies in the market launch or commercial acceleration phase, with investments ranging from €500,000 to €2,000,000 depending on the maturity of the company. Additionally, Cyber Impact Ventures has the ability to track its investments over time over similar amounts.
We have also benefited from the expertise and network of iconic personalities at Auriga Partners, who are committed to sharing their experience and helping their portfolio companies grow. We are convinced that this global support will be decisive in our success as a startup.
We were fortunate to benefit from the investment of Breizh Up, which has already supported startups specializing in cybersecurity such as GLIMPS. The latter completed a fundraising of 6 million euros led by Ace Capital Partners and Breizh Up. We are also happy to join this list, with our fundraising of 2 million euros led by Cyber Impact Ventures and joined by Breizh Up.
What will Defants look like in 5 years?
Our ambition at Defants is clear: to become a European leader in Digital Forensics and Incident Response solutions. We want to offer a complete and innovative solution for digital investigation and response to security incidents. We believe that incident response must be proactive and must help businesses be more profitable, as well as create new services to effectively respond to cybercrime threats.
We are aware that the modern cyber threat landscape is increasingly complex, frequent and devastating. This is why we want to position ourselves as a benchmark company in this field to help our customers better protect themselves and strengthen their security.
