Zip Security
New York-based cybersecurity automation platform that deploys and manages identity, device, and endpoint security controls for small and mid-sized businesses without in-house security teams.
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Zip Security sells and operates a security stack for small and mid-sized businesses that have no dedicated security team, automating the deployment and ongoing management of cloud identity management, device management (MDM/EDR), and endpoint threat detection rather than handing customers a dashboard to configure themselves. Founded around 2022 by Josh Zweig and Gabbi Merz, both Palantir alumni who worked on securing US government systems, the company targets the roughly 95% of businesses under 100 employees that its own research and messaging says operate without any dedicated cybersecurity staff.
The company raised $7.7 million in seed funding in late 2023 led by General Catalyst, then followed with a $13.5 million Series A in 2025 led by Ballistic Ventures (a security-focused fund), bringing total funding to roughly $21 million. Zip’s pitch is compliance and security "in a day" for SMBs and mid-market firms that represent over half of US GDP but typically lack the resources to deploy and maintain basic identity, device, and endpoint controls on their own.
Zip Security competes with both traditional MSSPs serving the SMB segment and newer automated-security-stack startups. Its differentiation is a highly automated, opinionated deployment model built by security engineers with US government/Palantir backgrounds, aimed at compressing the time and expertise required to stand up baseline identity, device, and endpoint protections, rather than offering a broad menu of configurable point products.
Innovation Matrix Assessment
Zip has expanded from an identity/device management seed-stage product to a broader automated security and compliance platform within about two years of founding, indicating a fast product-expansion pace typical of a well-funded early-stage security startup.
As a company only a few years old with roughly 11-50 employees, Zip's operational track record is still short; it has shipped and supports a production platform for paying customers but lacks the multi-year operating history of established MSSPs.
Two funding rounds in under two years, growing from a $7.7 million seed to a $13.5 million Series A led by a security-focused fund (Ballistic Ventures), is a concrete, independently reported signal of real investor and customer momentum.
Automating end-to-end deployment of identity, device, and endpoint controls for SMBs that currently have no security stack at all is a meaningful access disruption, though the underlying identity/MDM/EDR components themselves are integrations of established technology categories rather than a new detection method.
No independent third-party test results, MITRE-style evaluations, or named breach-prevention case studies were publicly available for Zip's platform; efficacy evidence at this stage rests primarily on funding investor due diligence and vendor-reported customer growth rather than independent verification.
The SMB and lower mid-market security gap Zip targets is a well-documented, current problem, and automated compliance/security deployment is increasingly relevant as cyber-insurance and regulatory requirements extend down to smaller businesses that can't staff a security function.
Why CISOs Should Care
For SMBs and mid-market companies with no dedicated security team, Zip Security offers a way to stand up baseline identity, device, and endpoint protection quickly, built by a team with US government security engineering backgrounds rather than generic MSP tooling.
What Makes It Different
Zip automates the actual deployment and ongoing operation of identity, device, and endpoint controls end-to-end for resource-constrained SMBs, rather than offering a configurable dashboard or a traditional staffed MSSP engagement.
The Matrix Verdict
57/100 — INCREMENTAL INNOVATOR
A fast-growing, well-funded early-stage challenger addressing a genuine and underserved SMB security gap, with real investor validation from a security-focused Series A lead, but still too early for independent efficacy verification beyond funding and customer-growth signals.
Editorial Note: Claims vs. Verified Findings
Independently verifiable: the seed and Series A funding amounts and investor names (General Catalyst, Ballistic Ventures, BoxGroup) are corroborated by SecurityWeek, PR Newswire, and Crunchbase. Vendor-sourced and unverified: the specific claim that 95% of sub-100-employee businesses lack dedicated security staff, and any customer-count or effectiveness figures, come from Zip's own materials and were not independently confirmed.
Sources
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