My Digital Shield today announced it has raised $500,000 in seed funding from private investors, including Litera Investments.
This funding will help support the growth of MDS, which was founded in 2013 to give SMBs access to enterprise-level security technology that is reasonably priced and easy to install, configure and use.
“This investment will allow us to expand MDS’ security offerings, build out our team, establish more reseller relationships, and grow our sales efforts,” said Andrew Bagrin, founder and chief executive officer of My Digital Shield. “Small businesses cannot afford in-house IT experts or the expensive Internet security solutions currently on the market and designed for the Global 2000. Our mission is to deliver much-needed protection against cyber threats and intrusion to business owners at an affordable and predictable price, helping them protect their brands and foster growth.”
Litera Investments, which traditionally worked in the real estate market and worked often with smaller businesses, believed MDS could fill a market gap that would bring security to SMBs.
“Seeing the opportunity that MDS has to service the small business market really caught our attention, as there is no existing security solution that is more cost effective or results driven,” said Marc Gerofsky, CEO at Litera Investments. “When we saw how significant the risk is for SMBs that are not protecting their data against cyber intrusion and the void that MDS fills in the market, we jumped on board.”
MDS offers a certified channel partnership program for MSPs and VARs. Though at first CEO Andrew Bagrin had mixed thoughts about selling through the channel, he realized that the indispensable experience and generally positive customer relations between MSPs and VARs and their customers would make it the best option.
The partnership program is tiered, with partners at the lowest tier, bronze, receiving 20 percent of the revenue from their clients’ contracts or services. Partners at the highest tier receive a 50 percent share of the revenue of their clients’ contracts or services. Prices for customers are lower than the standard selling price through the channel to encourage channel participation.
Partners have access to top-level support, and, in most cases, can fix any issues directly at the customer site.
Standard pricing for MDS’ security product starts at $69 per month and varies based on level of security required. At the lowest level, MDS offers a basic yet comprehensive security product that protects against threats such as viruses and malware. At the second level, the product also includes PCI compliance and protection against credit card theft. In the third level, the product has technology that can control and monitor Internet usage.
MDS hopes to expand to the consumer market in the future.
