Almost exactly a year ago to date, Tampa-based cybersecurity company Perch Security was acquired by another Tampa cyber heavyweight, ConnectWise.
Now, Perch's founder is at it again — with $3.5 million in backing before even launching.
"My life was very much in this fast-paced startup mode and then when I exited Perch, everything came to a screeching halt," Aharon Chernin said. "And I'm too wired for that mode."
After the acquisition, Chernin served as VP of security strategy at ConnectWise, where he helped onboard and integrate the Perch Security technology successfully. Once that was completed, he left to pursue his new startup full-time.
The company, called Rewst (pronounced Roost), is a SaaS company helping managed service providers (MSPs) with automation and relying less on manual processes. It is currently in stealth mode and will launch in Q1 of next year.
"I don't think I would’ve come up with the idea if I hadn’t done Perch," Chernin said. "Running a 24/7 security operation for Perch, we would escalate incidents to managed service providers and they would either not know what to do with the incident or it would be the middle of the night and the operations center was either not open or understaffed."
Chernin's solution: A robotics process automation company that helps with everything from IT operations to the backend of MSPs.
"At Perch, we were an MSP-happiness company first and a security company second," he said. "When they hear Rewst, I want them to remember the good feelings Perch brought them. Really, we’re here to protect your business and your good eggs."
It just secured $2.5 million led by Florida Funders. The Florida Institute (Institute for Commercialization of Florida Technology) and MDJ Group also participated in the round. The funding joins $1.5 million already raised by Rewst, which will be used to take the company to market.
Rewst has five employees and is aiming for 12 by the time it exits stealth mode. Chernin said the company is not actively seeking funding and is solely focused on the launch.
He joins a powerhouse group of cyber companies, which he believes helps contribute to a growing talent pipeline in the region.
"When I started doing startups in Tampa seven or more years ago, if you tried to hire people they wouldn’t accept the job if you were a startup," he said. "Now, they're actively seeking startup roles in Tampa. This is a good time to start a company — we're a startup-friendly city but it's a low-ish number of companies so the competition for employees is not as great. I do think it will get to be that big in Tampa but it's not there yet."
Unlike Chernin's relatively quick four-year turnaround from founding to exit, he hopes Rewst has more staying power.
"Exiting a company, while it seems like fun, it's not fun," he said. "All the people that work for you are your family, and [an exit] makes it so you don't go to work anymore to see your family. I want to keep it around as long as possible."
