Guardio closed an $80 million Series B in November 2025 led by ION Crossover Partners.

The company previously raised a $47 million Series A in December 2021 led by Tiger Global, when Guardio had 100,000 paying users and was generating approximately $12.5M in ARR. Other investors include Vintage Investment Partners, Union Tech Ventures, Emerge, Cerca Partners, and Samsung Next.

Guardio has raised approximately $127 million in total funding across its seed, Series A, and Series B rounds.

Guardio is a browser extension that adds a security layer across every tab, email, and mobile session. Installation on Chrome or Edge takes under 30 seconds, after which it runs a security check-up that scans for browser hijackers, malicious extensions, and unwanted notifications.

The product performs three simultaneous functions. Real-time web filtration checks every URL and file hash against Guardio's cloud database and on-device machine learning models, replacing malicious pages with warning screens and quarantining risky downloads before they reach the user's device.

Phishing and scam interception uses visual-similarity models to detect fake login pages that mimic legitimate sites, while server-side systems flag newly registered scam domains. When suspicious emails or texts are detected, users receive push notifications or in-browser pop-ups that block the link until explicitly overridden.

Identity monitoring tracks up to five email addresses against breach databases, showing users when their data has been compromised, what information was leaked, and recommending password changes or multi-factor authentication setup. The dashboard provides a consolidated view of all security events and breach notifications.

A single license covers five devices across desktop browsers and mobile apps. The iOS and Android companion apps extend protection to system-level link checking, SMS filtering for smishing attacks, and push alerts for security events detected across all connected devices.

The company uses a freemium SaaS model with tiered subscription pricing. The browser extension offers a free security scan and basic threat detection, while continuous monitoring and advanced features require a paid subscription after a seven-day trial period.

Go-to-market combines B2C and B2B channels. Individual consumers upgrade from free to paid plans, while Guardio for Teams targets small and medium businesses with multi-seat licensing and administrative controls. Business customers can deploy the extension company-wide and manage employee security policies through a centralized dashboard.

Revenue scales through both user acquisition and account expansion. The freemium model drives organic growth through the Chrome Web Store and word-of-mouth referrals, while existing customers upgrade from individual to family plans or add more devices and users over time.

The cost structure reflects a hybrid of SaaS software and security data licensing. Guardio maintains its own threat intelligence database and machine learning models, and integrates third-party security feeds and breach databases. Cloud infrastructure costs scale with user activity, and the browser-based architecture keeps operational overhead lower than endpoint security solutions requiring dedicated agents.

Gross margins reflect the lightweight browser extension model, which requires less infrastructure than traditional antivirus software. The company operates near breakeven while investing in product development and international expansion.

Google Chrome's Safe Browsing feature now protects over one billion users by default, using real-time AI-powered threat detection that directly competes with Guardio's core value proposition. Microsoft Edge has similarly integrated SmartScreen technology with computer vision models to block scareware and phishing attempts natively within the browser.

Brave browser serves 100 million monthly active users with built-in privacy and security features, including proxied Google Safe Browsing protection. These native browser protections raise the baseline security level and force standalone extensions like Guardio to demonstrate clear incremental value beyond what users get for free.

Apple's Safari and other browsers continue expanding their built-in security capabilities, creating pressure for third-party security extensions to justify their subscription fees against increasingly capable default protections.

Malwarebytes Browser Guard offers free ad-blocking, tracker protection, and breach alerts through a lightweight browser extension that competes directly with Guardio's freemium model. The company leverages its established antivirus reputation to drive extension adoption and funnel users toward paid security products.

Avast Online Security provides tracker blocking, cookie consent automation, and social media privacy tools, using the free extension as a lead generation tool for its broader BreachGuard subscription service. Norton Safe Web bundles intrusion prevention and link protection into its browser extension, backed by Norton's 50 million LifeLock subscribers.

Bitdefender TrafficLight offers multi-browser protection but faces reliability issues that create opportunities for more polished competitors like Guardio to capture market share from users frustrated with legacy solutions.

Aura combines browser security with comprehensive identity monitoring, credit protection, and insurance coverage, positioning itself as a premium alternative to standalone browser extensions. The company's integrated approach mirrors Guardio's evolution toward broader identity protection beyond just web browsing.

LifeLock focuses primarily on identity theft protection but increasingly overlaps with browser-based security as digital threats converge around credential theft and account takeovers. Traditional identity monitoring services are expanding into real-time threat prevention to compete with browser security providers.

Newer entrants like Persana AI are building agentic frameworks around data orchestration and security, potentially creating more sophisticated alternatives to manual browser extension management.

Guardio's Safe Browsing API transforms the company from an end-user extension into a data platform serving AI browsers, autonomous agents, and generative AI applications. This developer-focused offering expands TAM from 1.5 billion consumer browser users to any AI system that interacts with web content, including large language models, RAG pipelines, and autonomous browsing agents.

Enterprise-grade visibility features bring data loss prevention capabilities typically sold to large corporations into consumer and SMB price points. The 2025 rollout includes monitoring for publicly shared documents, weak multi-factor authentication, and account misconfigurations, creating upsell opportunities across customer segments.

Mobile identity monitoring adds breach lookups, real-time scam call detection, and $1 million identity theft insurance coverage. This expansion captures spending that previously went to LifeLock-style services and telecom call-filtering applications, broadening Guardio's addressable market beyond browser security.

Guardio for Teams converts the existing consumer user base into multi-seat business deals with administrative dashboards and policy controls. The self-serve business product targets 17 million U.S. micro-businesses that lack dedicated security staff but need protection for distributed workforces and BYOD environments.

The developer API creates a new channel through AI-native browsers, integrated development environments, and fintech applications that must scan user-generated content. Licensing threat intelligence data to platforms like Arc, Replit, and Cursor opens recurring revenue streams beyond direct subscriptions.

The large free user base of over one million users represents significant monetization potential through improved onboarding, feature education, and targeted upgrade campaigns to higher-tier paid plans.

International markets offer substantial growth opportunities for Guardio's lightweight, localization-friendly browser extension model. The Series B funding specifically targets strengthening the company's international footprint in regions with growing cybersecurity awareness and smartphone adoption.

European markets face increasing regulatory requirements around data protection and cybersecurity, creating demand for compliant browser security solutions. Asian markets, particularly those with high mobile usage and emerging digital payment systems, represent significant expansion opportunities for Guardio's cross-device protection model.

The browser-based architecture requires minimal local infrastructure compared to traditional security software, enabling rapid geographic expansion without substantial upfront investment in regional data centers or support operations.

Browser commoditization: Major browser vendors like Google, Microsoft, and Apple are integrating more security features into their platforms, narrowing the use case for third-party extensions. As native protections improve with AI and real-time threat detection, willingness to pay for add-on security could decline, compressing Guardio's market opportunity and shifting competition toward price over feature depth.

API dependency: Guardio's browser extension model relies on compatibility with Chrome's extension APIs and comparable frameworks from other browser vendors. Changes to extension permissions, manifest requirements, or API access could materially affect product functionality and user experience, and browser vendors may prioritize their own security features over third-party capabilities.

Regulatory fragmentation: International expansion faces complex data protection and cybersecurity regulations across different jurisdictions, requiring significant compliance investment and potentially limiting product features in certain markets. Privacy regulations may also constrain the user data and browsing behavior that Guardio can collect and analyze, reducing the effectiveness of its threat detection algorithms and eroding differentiation.