Riot, a French startup developing a cybersecurity awareness platform for employees, raised $12 million in a Series A in February 2023. The round was led by Base10 Partners with participation from Y Combinator (Riot is part of the W20 batch), Funders Club, Founders Future, and several business angels including Severin Hacker (Duolingo), Ilkka Paananen (Supercell), Alex Bouaziz (Deel), and Tamar Yehoshua (Slack). The funds will enable Riot to accelerate its commercial expansion and broaden its product scope.
The human factor, cybersecurity's Achilles heel
According to Verizon's 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report, 74% of breaches involve a human factor: phishing, misconfiguration, or stolen credentials. Social engineering attacks continued to dominate the incident landscape in 2024, with average costs per breach steadily rising. IBM Security put the average cost of a data breach at $4.45 million in 2023, up 15% over three years.
Faced with this reality, companies are investing heavily in employee training. But traditional tools (annual e-learning modules, quarterly phishing simulations) are showing their limits: low engagement rates, knowledge retention that erodes quickly, and poor adaptation to new attack techniques. The security awareness training market is estimated at around $5.6 billion in 2024 according to Gartner, with annual growth of 15% expected through 2027.
Albert, the chatbot that changes the format
Riot's central interface is Albert, a chatbot available on Slack, Microsoft Teams, and the web. Rather than imposing training sessions disconnected from day-to-day work, Albert engages employees through micro-interactions of just a few minutes: quizzes, scenario-based exercises, and contextualized alerts about recent threats. The approach borrows from Duolingo's mechanics in its language, and that's probably what won over Severin Hacker, its cofounder, who took part in the round in a personal capacity.
Riot also tackles automated phishing simulations, personalized by user profile, as well as compliance reporting management (GDPR, NIS2, ISO 27001). The stated goal is to turn cybersecurity awareness from an administrative obligation into a program of measurable behaviors.
Base10, an automation-focused investor
The fact that Base10 Partners is leading the round is no coincidence. This Silicon Valley fund, founded in 2018, manages over $1.9 billion and invests in automation technologies for traditional industries. Its cybersecurity thesis rests on the idea that employee security awareness should be treated as a scalable SaaS product, not a consulting engagement. Base10 has already invested in Notion, Plaid, Brex and FIGS.
Competitors and benchmarks
- KnowBe4: US leader in security awareness, acquired in 2023 by Vista Equity Partners for $4.6 billion.
- Hoxhunt: Finnish startup combining phishing simulations with continuous training.
- Mantra: direct French competitor, also founded in 2020, betting on automation and personalization.
- SoSafe: German startup valued at over $700 million in 2022.
The market is competitive but remains highly fragmented in Europe, where no player has yet reached KnowBe4's scale. Riot positions itself in the mid-market and enterprise segment, with a product pitch centered on user experience (a chatbot built into everyday tools) rather than exhaustive module coverage.
How the $12M will be used
Riot announced three priorities for this Series A: expanding its commercial presence in Europe and the United States, broadening its product catalog (notably toward regulatory compliance), and strengthening its engineering team to bring more AI into journey personalization. At the time of the raise, the company claimed several hundred clients, including Intercom, Veepee, Deel and Brigad.
The arrival of the European NIS2 directive, in force since October 2024, significantly expands the scope of companies subject to cybersecurity obligations. This regulatory pressure is a direct catalyst for demand for Riot's solutions, particularly among mid-sized companies that now need to structure their security awareness programs.
What this means for the French ecosystem
Riot is one of the most visible success stories in French cybersecurity post-2020. Born out of Y Combinator, the project embodies a new generation of French startups that are international from day one, with founders (Benjamin Netter, Jean-Baptiste Kempf) who commit to a product-led growth strategy rather than traditional B2B sales. For French SaaS founders, Riot illustrates the winning combination: an accessible product (PLG), transparent pricing, and the ability to rally an international syndicate of investors from Series A onward.
For growth teams driving acquisition for B2B productivity tools, the Riot model offers a textbook case of chatbot-based activation embedded in existing tools (Slack, Teams). A mechanism that reduces adoption friction and speeds up penetration within customer organizations. Our growth marketing expertise details the product-led activation levers that apply to these architectures.
The French B2B cybersecurity ecosystem also includes several other established players: Tehtris in detection, Snyk France in application security, and Sekoia in threat intelligence. Security awareness represents a complementary segment, often under-equipped with modern tools, where the window of opportunity remains open for two to three years before global leaders consolidate the European market.
FAQ
How much did Riot raise in its Series A?
Riot raised $12 million in Series A funding in February 2023. The round was led by Base10 Partners, with participation from Y Combinator, Funders Club, Founders Future and several angel investors.
What does Riot do?
Riot develops a cybersecurity awareness platform for employees, built around a chatbot named Albert, available on Slack, Microsoft Teams and the web.
Who are Riot's founders?
Riot was founded in 2020 by Benjamin Netter (CEO) and Jean-Baptiste Kempf (CTO). The company was incubated at Y Combinator as part of the W20 batch.
Who are Riot's competitors?
Riot competes with players such as KnowBe4 (United States, global leader acquired by Vista), Hoxhunt (Finland), SoSafe (Germany) and Mantra (France).
What is the market for cybersecurity awareness?
The security awareness training market is estimated at around $5.6 billion in 2024, according to Gartner, with a compound annual growth rate of 15% expected through 2027. The human element is involved in 74% of breaches, according to Verizon.