10 Cybersecurity Startups To Watch In 2026

We’ve selected 10 up-and-coming, partner-friendly security startups that are on our radar for 2026.

Cybersecurity Startups To Watch

For early-stage cybersecurity vendors just getting ready to launch into the market, investing heavily in direct sales may seem like the usual area to focus first. But the central role played by solution and service providers in securing customers has caused some startups to take a different approach. For startups such as Orchid Security, launching as a channel-first company has made a lot more sense as a way to gain early velocity and credibility with customers, according to Orchid CRO Trish Cagliostro.

After spending three years helping to drive stunning growth at Wiz as vice president of global channels, Cagliostro joined identity security startup Orchid Security with an aim toward making the vendor a partner-focused company from the get-go. “We want it to be crystal clear to the market that we are a channel company from day one,” Cagliostro told CRN.

As part of CRN’s coverage looking ahead to 2026, we’re highlighting 10 cybersecurity startups —at the Series C funding level or earlier—that have been on our radar for delivering novel approaches to protecting businesses and engaging with channel partners. Our list of cybersecurity startups to watch in 2026 includes early-stage companies providing identity security, exposure management and data security.

What follows are the details on 10 cybersecurity startups to watch in 2026.

Cavelo

Founded: 2021

CEO: James Mignacca

Cavelo offers an attack surface management platform with a range of capabilities including data discovery and classification, asset discovery, identity access management and vulnerability management. In particular, Cavelo excels at providing attack surface management capabilities for hybrid environments — something that is crucial in the increasingly hybrid world of customers today, said Wayne Hunter, president and CEO of AvTek Solutions, an Allen, Texas-based MSP and Cavelo partner. Larry Meador, a channel veteran who joined Cavelo as channel chief in January 2025, has been spearheading the efforts around growing the startup’s MSP partner ranks.

ConductorOne

Founded: 2020

CEO: Alex Bovee

ConductorOne is an identity governance startup focused on agentic AI, with its platform that brings together identity governance and administration (IGA), identity and access management (IAM) and privileged access management (PAM) into a single platform. The startup’s platform “automates identity security end to end, eliminating the manual work traditionally required,” the company said in a news release. In October 2025, ConductorOne announced raising a $79 million Series B round led by Greycroft. ConductorOne offers deal registration and works with resellers, service providers consultants and other channels, according to the company.

Evo Security

Founded: 2018

CEO: Michael Roth

Evo Security offers an identity and access management (IAM) platform that’s built specifically for meeting the needs of MSPs. The Evo Security platform brings together multiple capabilities including privileged access management (PAM), multi-factor authentication (MFA), single sign-on (SSO) and help desk verification, which provides a strong alternative to the “piecemealing” approaches that many MSPs have been forced to take in the past, Roth told CRN. In June 2025, the startup debuted Evo End User Elevation, a tool for providing AI-powered privilege elevation to streamline the request process. Evo Security is working with several hundred MSPs and is looking to ramp up its recruitment of new MSPs, Roth said.

Orchid Security

Founded: 2024

CEO: Roy Katmor

Orchid Security offers technology that aims to accelerate the deployment of identity security tools through an orchestration platform powered in part by LLMs. The startup’s offering—which can also reduce the cost of utilizing identity and access management—ultimately serves to secure highly complex identity environments for the enterprise, Orchid said. In January 2025, the startup announced raising $36 million in seed funding led by Team8 and Intel Capital. In April 2025, Orchid Security announced the hire of Trish Cagliostro, formerly the vice president of channels and alliances at Wiz, as its CRO as the startup pursues a channel-focused growth strategy. GuidePoint Security, No. 30 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 for 2025, is a key early partner for Orchid, according to the company.

Ray Security

Founded: 2024

CEO: Ariel Zamir

Ray Security offers an AI-powered data security platform that stands out by using advanced data classification and permission analysis to provide predictive capabilities, which can dramatically enhance protection of an organization’s data, Zamir told CRN. Based on analyzing past access patterns, Ray Security dynamically introduces appropriate safeguards for each of the two different classes of data—with stricter access requirements implemented for the data that won’t be needed immediately. Key channel partners for Ray Security include BlackLake Security, No. 311 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 for 2025. For BlackLake’s customers, Ray Security’s technology is “really going to solve some big problems that we’re seeing, day in and day out,” said Mark Jones, founder and CEO of Austin, Texas-based BlackLake Security. “We think it’s a paradigm shift—a big one.”

Reach Security

Founded: 2020

CEO: Garrett Hamilton

Reach Security offers an AI-powered approach to addressing exposure management, with a focus on providing greater visibility, prioritization and remediation for security risks. The Reach platform enables teams to more easily identify and fix exposures such as vulnerabilities, misconfigurations and other weaknesses across both SaaS and on-premises environments. Recently introduce capabilities include ConfigIQ Drift, which is a virtual assistant for defining detection of configuration drift and enforcing policies without need for deep technical skills. Key partners of Reach Security have included Evotek, No. 92 on the 2025 CRN Solution Provider 500, which has been helping the startup with their go-to-market strategy and hiring, according to Evotek Founder and CEO Cesar Enciso.

Reflectiz

Founded: 2016

CEO: Idan Cohen

Reflectiz offers a continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) platform for monitoring and protecting websites against threats from third parties. The tool works by detecting scripts and data flows across a site rather than inside the browser as an extension would, according to Reflectiz. Tevora, an Irvine, Calif.-based consultancy specializing in cybersecurity and compliance, has found that the Reflectiz offering brings a non-intrusive approach to web security, according to Joshua Jones, a regional vice president of sales at Tevora. That helps substantially with meeting regulatory requirements such as PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance, Jones told CRN. In October 2025, Reflectiz raised $22 million in a Series B funding round led by Fulcrum Equity Partners.

VulnCheck

Founded: 2021

CEO: Anthony Bettini

VulnCheck provides exploit intelligence to security teams through delivering machine-readable threat data, in contrast to approaches focused on creating threat intelligence reports that must be read by security analysts, Bettini told CRN. The machine-readable information provided by VulnCheck—which is typically fed into an organization’s data lake—automatically enables improved defense against threats, he said. “It’s threat intel for machines and automation, not threat intel for people to read,” Bettini said. In August 2025, VulnCheck launched its first formal partner program, and key partners include Optiv, No. 28 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 for 2025.

Zafran Security

Founded: 2022

CEO: Sanaz Yashar

Threat exposure management startup Zafran announced in August 2025 that it’s launching a new agentless tool for continuous discovery of vulnerabilities. The new Zafran Detector offering utilizes existing agents and other security controls in order to discover new vulnerabilities, the company said. The tool then assesses whether the detected vulnerabilities are actually exploitable, Zafran said. Ultimately, “we really solve the problem of exploitability,” Yashar told CRN. Key channel partners of the startup include GuidePoint Security, Optiv, World Wide Technology, Trace3 and Defy Security.

Zero Networks

Founded: 2019

CEO: Benny Lakunishok

Zero Networks offers a network microsegmentation platform that aims to be easier to deploy, without a need for software agents like many other technologies in the sector. In March 2025, Zero Networks disclosed that it is targeting a major MSP recruitment push to bring network microsegmentation into the underserved MSP market. In June 2025, Zero Networks announced raising a $55 million Series C funding round led by Highland Europe.