Balance Theory, a Columbia startup that creates workplace management applications for cybersecurity professionals, has raised $3 million in seed funding and intends to use the proceeds to build out a development team.
The round was led by Fulton-based DataTribe after the software-as-a-service company beat out two other finalists to win the 5th annual DataTribe Challenge, a pitch competition geared toward data science or cybersecurity industry startups. The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) also participated in the seed round.
Balance Theory, founded earlier this year, is designing one application that acts as middleware between the plethora of applications cybersecurity professionals use. It aims to streamline the work that cybersecurity professionals do when setting cybersecurity protocols within an organization.
For example, if a company is updating its cybersecurity protocols to adhere to Defense Department's updated Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), Balance Theory's software would track progress on that initiative to prevent ransomware attacks and data leaks, act as database to onboard new hires, and track the effectiveness and impact of cybersecurity changes for the less tech-savvy members of the C-suite.
“It’s hard to get that knowledge and conversation happening between cybersecurity leaders back into their teams and then operationalized," Co-founder and CEO Greg Baker said. "We want to be that bridge between those two sides of the community.”
Its program will also have a community element in which companies can share how they’re stopping cybersecurity threats within their organization. That could mean sharing the architectures, defense decisions that the company is making, technology selection and how they’re being successful.
Balance Theory plans to use the funds to add six to 12 new staffers to the development team next year. It has seven full-time employees: the three founders — Baker, Chief Operating Officer Lisa Mathias, Chief Technology Officer Nathan Necaise — and four developers.
Baker said Balance Theory is "a remote-first company," so the new hires do not necessarily need to be based in Maryland.
"We’re very much a big part of the Maryland technical community and we have a commitment to really be a part and build roots here deeply for the long term,” Baker said. “That said, our team is also distributed. We are looking for folks all around the United States that would be interested in being a part of the company.”
Balance Theory is the second company started by Baker and his co-founders. In 2015, they founded a big data, automation and orchestration services company, Decision Lab, that they sold to Denver-based cybersecurity solutions company Optiv in 2017.
Balance Theory will begin testing its product with enterprise clients in the first quarter. The goal is to release the full application by the end of next year.
