Meet the Boca company keeping startups secure and compliant

By Riley Kaminer

Security and compliance might not be one of the most exciting parts of a startup founder’s entrepreneurial journey. But without proper security and compliance procedures in place, startups will have major issues attracting and retaining clients.

Boca-based Securily helps tech founders keep their platforms secure. “Our focus is on security, which leads to compliance by default,” Securily co-founder and CEO Orit Benzaquen told Refresh Miami.

Securily offers a SaaS product that scans users’ platforms for potential security risks, particularly with a focus on any connections they have to third-party cloud apps. These risks are aggregated and organized into an easy-to-understand report. Securily then ‘translates’ these issues into three to five ways to fix these issues.

While Securily was founded around a year ago, the company’s origins stem from co-founder and CTO Cariel Cohen’s experience in cloud security. A few years back, a colleague came to Cohen when their Slack app failed a penetration test. That made Cohen realize the value of running those tests for startups on a regular basis and in a completely automated way.

“The sooner you engage with Securily, the faster you grow, because you’ll be ready for any opportunity that presents itself,” said Benzaquen. Most of the companies that Securily works with are Series A or more mature.

Cybersecurity is an increasingly important – and expensive – risk for businesses to manage. “You don’t need to be a huge corporation to be a target,” noted Benzaquen. “Every company is exposed.”

Mitigating cybersecurity threats is a major draw for companies to engage with Securily. Of course, compliance requirements such as SOC 2 also bring companies to Securily. Being proactive can save companies money in the long term, according to Benzaquen, because they can check their compliance as they develop – rather than realize that they have an issue once it’s too late.

Benzaquen, who originally hails from Venezuela, landed in Boca Raton two years ago. “When Covid hit, everything changed for us,” she explained, noting that the high quality of life in South Florida lured her to relocate from Los Angeles. Now, three of Securily’s seven full-time employees are based here.

This summer, Securily took part in the Boca-focused EndeavorLAB cohort. Benzaquen called the program a “game changer.”

“When we first moved to Boca, we felt very isolated here. But the EndeavorLAB program introduced us to a whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs that are going through the same things as we are.” Through Endeavor, Securily got in touch with FAU’s Global Ventures program, where they are now based.

Looking forward, Securily has plans to close a seed fundraise, which is currently in progress and kickstarted by a $100K investment from Google.

“I am excited to enable entrepreneurs across the globe to reach their maximum potential,” said Benzaquen. “We will continue to eliminate the friction that security and compliance are posing to them in a very straightforward, easy, and affordable way.”

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Riley Kaminer

I am a Miami-based technology researcher and writer with a passion for sharing stories about the South Florida tech ecosystem. I particularly enjoy learning about GovTech startups, cutting-edge applications of artificial intelligence, and innovators that leverage technology to transform society for the better. Always open for pitches via Twitter @rileywk or www.RileyKaminer.com.