AI STARTUP AVALONX EMERGES FROM STEALTH WITH $10 MILLION IN FUNDING FROM RIDOWN CAPITAL

After 18 months in stealth, AvalonX brings continuous, enterprise-grade penetration testing to small and midsize businesses, pairing proprietary security AI trained on nine years of real-world offensive-security data with human expertise to expose potential breach paths before cybercriminals strike.

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Oct. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- AvalonX, an AI security start-up, today emerged from 18 months in stealth with the launch of its continuous, AI-powered penetration testing platform. Powered by security AI trained on nine years of real-world offensive-security data, the platform is designed to give small and midsize businesses the kind of offensive security testing long used by large enterprises without requiring an enterprise security team or budget.

Smaller organizations face many of the same attack vectors as large ones, but they typically have smaller teams, less money, and fewer opportunities to test whether their defenses will hold. Many such organizations rely on periodic penetration tests, leaving long stretches between assessments while systems, software, and threats continue to evolve.

That gap between the pace of attacks and the pace of pen testing can leave these businesses exposed. Verizon's 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report found ransomware in 88% of breaches involving small and midsize companies, compared with 39% at larger organizations. AvalonX was built to help close that gap by making continuous penetration testing practical for smaller businesses through a monthly subscription that combines autonomous attack simulation with human expertise.

"Large enterprises test constantly. They have red teams, consultants, and budgets to match. A 50-person accounting firm or a regional manufacturer faces the same threats as their enterprise counterparts with none of the concomitant resources to protect themselves. Most such organizations test once a year, if they can afford it, and attackers don't wait eleven months to strike," said Craig Goodwin, CEO and co-founder of AvalonX and former CISO at Fujitsu, Monster, and CDK Global. "We built AvalonX so those businesses get the same quality of testing I relied on as an enterprise CISO."

AvalonX's Artemis platform uses autonomous agents to test a company's defenses the way a malicious actor would, searching for ways in and determining how far attackers can move once inside. The platform is powered by Aether, AvalonX's proprietary 400-billion-parameter security AI, trained on nine years of real-world offensive-security data and backed by 60 billion dark-web records.

Autonomous testing provides speed and scale, while AvalonX's penetration testers add human judgment when it's needed. Potential vulnerabilities that require expert analysis are evaluated by a tester, ensuring customers receive meaningful, actionable findings rather than a flood of automated alerts.

The technology may be sophisticated, but the customer experience is intentionally straightforward. A business enters its domain, defines what AvalonX is authorized to test, and receives results the same day. External testing requires no software installation, and results are written in plain language with clear next steps. Findings also map to SOC 2, ISO/IEC 27001, PCI DSS v4.0, and HIPAA.

Ridown Capital, the investment firm of Onecom co-founders Aaron Brown and Darren Ridge, has invested up to $10 million in AvalonX. Onecom serves more than 65,000 small and midsize businesses, giving Brown and Ridge a close view of the technology and security challenges those companies face.

"At Onecom we've spent two decades serving small and midsize businesses, more than 65,000 of them today, and we hear the same thing: they're targeted like enterprises but resourced like startups," said Brown. "AvalonX is built for them from the ground up. That's why we backed it."

Their investment builds on Brown and Ridge's broader focus on bringing enterprise capabilities to smaller businesses. Ridown Group's portfolio spans telecommunications, cybersecurity, and e-commerce, with revenues of more than $500 million in the U.K. alone.

"Aaron and I have spent our careers giving smaller businesses enterprise capability at a price that makes sense," Ridge explained. "Craig and his team have done that for cybersecurity. We're proud to help bring it to businesses that have historically been priced out of this level of testing."

AvalonX is led by cybersecurity veterans Craig Goodwin, Ricardo Valdes, and Ben O'Nion, who bring more than 50 years of combined information security and technology experience to the company.

AvalonX is available now. Businesses can run a free initial test at www.avalonx.ai.

ABOUT AVALONX

AvalonX Inc. is an AI-powered offensive security start-up headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, backed by up to $10 million from Ridown Capital. After 18 months in stealth, the company launched publicly in October 2026. Its Artemis platform, powered by the proprietary Aether security AI trained on nine years of real-world offensive-security data, combines autonomous testing agents with human verification to deliver continuous, on-demand penetration testing that small and midsize businesses can afford. Learn more at www.avalonx.ai.

ABOUT RIDOWN CAPITAL

Ridown Capital is the investment arm of Ridown Group, led by Aaron Brown and Darren Ridge. The group's portfolio spans telecommunications, cybersecurity, and e-commerce, with revenues of more than $500 million in the U.K. alone. It includes Onecom, one of the U.K.'s largest independent business communications providers, serving more than 65,000 businesses.

Media contact: [email protected]

SOURCE AvalonX