BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cork, the cyber warranty company for MSPs serving small businesses and the ISV solutions they manage, today emerged from stealth. Launched by DVx Ventures, which led its $6 million in seed funding with participation from Outsiders Fund and Vestigo Ventures, Cork offers Protection from the Inside OutTM, with a mission to transform the industry by providing simple and accessible financial protection against cyber risks.
In conjunction with the launch, Cork announced strategic partnerships with Barracuda Networks and River Run. At launch, the Cork warranty will be bundled with new and existing renewals of Barracuda’s Managed XDR Solution. River Run, a 30-year-old Managed Services Provider serving manufacturers, financial institutions, law firms, school districts and private schools, government, healthcare, non-profits and auto dealerships, will offer the Cork active monitoring platform and warranty to its clients.
Seventy-four percent of known data breaches impacted small and midsize businesses (SMBs) last year, an increase from 46% in 2021. For most SMBs, the cost and complexity of cyber insurance makes financial protection unaffordable and out of reach. Cork was founded to address cyber risks that SMBs face, and empower them with resources to build strong cyber resilience and financial confidence.
“The accelerating need for cyber financial protection is causing premiums to increase and coverages to decline – disproportionately affecting SMBs,” said Carlson Choi, CEO at Cork. “Cork is addressing this problem in a different way through a complete data-driven warranty solution designed for MSPs and their SMB customers. It’s easy to access, and provides actionable insights, flexible premiums and simple claims management.”
Cork’s purpose-built platform is designed to offer MSPs and their customers peace of mind and reduce cyber risk with near-instant financial coverage and settlements in the aftermath of security incidents. The warranty is backed by an inside-out approach to active risk monitoring, detection and remediation, using real-time data telemetry to underwrite the cyber risk of the protected environment. This approach gives MSPs timely insights to enable quick action.
“From my time founding and growing Datto into a multibillion-dollar business, I’m intimately familiar with what keeps MSPs up at night,” said Austin McChord, managing director at Outsiders Fund. “This includes the need for a trusted simple, accessible financial solution against cyber risks. Cork meets this need with a monitoring and warranty product that easily plugs into their tech stack, adds tremendous value to their services and gives instant peace of mind to the SMB customers they serve. I’m thrilled to be working closely with the Cork team.”
“Cybersecurity and risk management are top of mind for organizations of all sizes,” said Jon McNeill, founder at Cork and CEO and co-founder at DVx Ventures. “While large enterprises have the resources to mitigate attacks, small businesses rely on their MSP partners for this know-how. Through our inside-out monitoring, rapid underwriting, and easy claims tracking, we put security control in the hands of MSPs to financially protect them and their clients. With a world-class team and investors in place, we’re ready to deliver on Cork’s mission.”
For more information on Cork and to sign up for the Cork early access program, visit corkinc.com.
About Cork
Launched by DVx Ventures, Cork is a cyber warranty company for managed service providers (MSPs) serving small businesses (SMBs) and the software solutions they manage. Its purpose-built platform is designed to offer MSPs and their clients peace of mind with near-instant coverage and settlements in the aftermath of security incidents. Cork’s revolutionary Protection from the Inside OutTM approach to actionable insights, flexible premiums and claims management puts control in the hands of MSPs and SMBs to protect the digital assets they value most. Based in Boston, Cork is backed by DVx Ventures, Outsiders Fund and Vestigo Ventures. For more information, visit corkinc.com and follow Cork on LinkedIn.
