A significant portion of online traffic is now generated by bots, including both benevolent and malicious ones, with the latter being exacerbated by AI. Companies are facing a resurgence of threats, ranging from DDoS attacks to scraping.

Cybersecurity entrepreneur Nikita Rozenberg notes that the impact is particularly severe for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). “The key difference is that large enterprises can typically withstand these threats, whereas they can be devastating for small businesses,” he explains.

This realization led Rozenberg to establish Blackwall, an Estonia-based startup previously known as BotGuard, which bears similarities to CloudFlare, Imperva, and others, but with a specific focus on SMBs.

This focus has also influenced the company’s product development roadmap. Recently, Blackwall introduced an ad fraud prevention product designed to prevent e-commerce websites from having their ad spend depleted by bots.

The startup’s rapid pace of launching new applications and its plans for continued innovation resonated with Dawn Capital, a B2B-focused VC firm that is backing Blackwall’s €45 million Series B round (approximately $49.2 million).

The funding will facilitate the development of new products beyond the flagship GateKeeper, a reverse proxy that inspects traffic, analyzes it using AI, and filters malicious requests in real-time, including threats from bots and intruders.

The rebranding to Blackwall reflects the company’s expanded scope. The new name, coined by co-founder Denis Prochko, is a nod to the video game Cyberpunk 2077, where a complex firewall called the Blackwall protects the Net from rogue AIs.

In reality, Blackwall operates with a lower profile, focusing on providing an easy-to-use and automated solution that is often invisible to end-users. This is partly because the company does not sell directly to SMBs, instead opting for a “channel model” that involves partnering with intermediaries.

This strategy entails collaborating with hosting service providers, managed service providers, and e-commerce platforms seeking to enhance their margins. By offering Blackwall to their customers, these partners can differentiate themselves and reduce costs associated with malicious traffic.

Blackwall is targeting midmarket players that lack the resources to develop in-house products, unlike larger competitors such as GoDaddy. The startup has found this sales strategy to be particularly effective.

Since its launch in 2019, Blackwall has partnered with over 100 intermediaries, enabling the company to scale rapidly. With a team of 65, its services are now deployed across more than 2.3 million websites and applications.

The new funding will enable Blackwall to double its headcount and expand into the U.S. and APAC markets, with support from Dawn Capital and VC firm MMC Ventures, which led the startup’s €12 million Series A round (approximately $13.1 million at today’s exchange rate) just a year ago.