BestDefense.io

BestDefense.io develops Vortex, a continuous security validation platform that embeds penetration testing and automated remediation into software development workflows. The system maps an application's attack surface — endpoints, APIs, authentication flows and dependencies — on every deploy, attempts live exploit chains (SQL injection, authentication bypass, SSRF, privilege escalation and business-logic flaws) against the running environment, and forwards only findings it has confirmed to be exploitable.

For each confirmed exploit, the platform generates a stack-aware patch delivered as a pull request, ticket or Slack alert, with a CI gate that blocks vulnerable builds until the issue is resolved. It then reruns the original exploit against the patched build to confirm closure and flag regressions. Each closed loop produces a timestamped evidence record mapped to compliance frameworks including SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, NIST and CMMC, and audit bundles can be exported as signed PDFs. The company also offers a pre-commit mode that runs AI pentesting locally in the developer's editor via Docker. Techstars lists its activity areas as fully automated penetration testing at global scale with continuous monitoring, CI/CD pipeline tools, globally distributed application, infrastructure and network load testing, honeypots and network monitoring, and an AI-driven CISO copilot.

Founding story

Founder and CEO Dan Baddeley has 12+ years as a Fortune 100 engineering executive leading DevSecOps, SRE and platform teams, and architected petabyte-scale systems for NYSE, NASDAQ and FS-ISAC with solutions deployed at Worldpay, Chase Bank and Google; he founded BestDefense because existing tools could not keep pace with how software is now built. Co-founder and CTO Derek Foster has 14+ years of engineering leadership across fintech, marketing and e-commerce, overseeing global teams of more than 150 developers, with expertise in SRE, full-stack engineering, cybersecurity and solutions architecture, and leads development of the verified fix loop.

Business model

Vortex is sold as a monthly subscription, positioned against per-engagement manual penetration tests (cited at $30,000–$80,000 per engagement) and per-seat or per-repo scanner pricing. The site offers a free trial and demo requests as entry points.

Monthly subscription for the Vortex platform.

Traction

The company reports customer-observed outcomes including 90% fewer findings requiring triage, 85% faster time from discovery to merged verified fix, and 95% of fix pull requests merged without revision, with an end-to-end loop under two hours. Customer testimonials cite passing third-party security assessments, accelerating SOC 2 compliance and a 60% reduction in vulnerability detection time. The Techstars listing places headcount at 11-50.

Latest developments

Advisors listed include Ernie Bio (managing director at ForgePoint Capital and former COO of the Defense Innovation Unit), Andy Feldstein (president of ViaSpectrum), Josh Sturgeon (co-founder of EmberTribe), Dave Shor and Alex Viteri. Distribution agreements are in place with Carahsoft and Bridgepointe Technologies.