Manchester cybersecurity start-up Cytix has announced a $7M (£5m) Series A funding round to accelerate the company’s mission to tackle the problems created by rapid software change – a reality that is becoming a distinct risk for organisations as AI-assisted development, agentic workflows, and continuous delivery lead to an increased volume of AI-generated code.
The round has been led by Northern Gritstone, the venture capital and investment firm that focuses on science and tech startups in the North of England, with participation from existing investors, Auriga Cyber Ventures and NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance, which is managed by PXN Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II).
Ben Armstrong, CEO of Cytix said: “We chose Northern Gritstone for their conviction in investing in deeptech companies in the North of England with global ambition. Northern Gritstone and Cytix share the belief that software change is becoming a key risk for organisations, and those that build software need a solution that scales with the current pace of development. We’re also grateful to the existing investors that have backed us since the early days and increased their commitment because they’ve seen the thesis play out.”
The funding will accelerate the roll out of Cytix’s newly launched change risk platform, designed to address the questions raised by rapid software change: Whether security should care about the change, what risk it introduces, and what the required action should be.
The platform continuously monitors every software change or update a business makes, analyses and validates the risk of that change, and explains to regulators how that risk was handled.
“Software is changing,” explained Armstrong. “AI-assisted development means change now happens at machine speed. Meanwhile, very few security leaders have control over, or understanding of, those changes from a risk perspective. Right now, existing tools can tell you what vulnerabilities you have, but can’t tell you about the risk. We launched Cytix’ change risk management platform to get control of that risk.”
The platform sits between a customer’s software development lifecycle (SDLC) where change happens, and their risk, security and compliance functions where the change is evidenced for compliance purposes. It is the control point through which every software change passes: Understanding what change occurred and the associated business risk, deciding the security action, validating the risk, and providing the evidence to show how it was handled.
The Series A round will help Cytix reach customers in enterprise and regulated businesses where change governance is a regulatory obligation. Customers can access the platform either directly with Cytix or through its managed service partnerships with NCC Group and KPMG.
Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone, said: “The explosion of AI-assisted software development has led to a race to ensure software implementation remains secure. Cytix’s platform aims to help enterprises take a realistic approach, recognising where change carries the most risk whilst allowing businesses to innovate. Northern Gritstone is proud to support another ambitious Manchester-based business in an exciting phase of its growth.”
Cytix’s change risk platform is available on general release for customers on 12 August. More information is available here.
