Maro, a cognitive security platform focused on mitigating human risk, has raised $4.3 million in a seed round led by Downing Capital Group. The funding will support team expansion, product development, and go-to-market execution. With the platform now live, Maro offers security teams dynamic intervention tools that prevent cognitive risks — such as social engineering, insider threats, and unregulated AI use — from turning into security or compliance incidents.
Developed by cybersecurity veterans Jadon Montero, Gwen Betts, and Jen Andre, Maro applies behavioral policy enforcement at the point of decision-making. The founding team brings over 40 years of experience and previously built multiple companies in the security space, including Komand and Threat Stack. Insights from 50 CISOs and CIOs across fintech, healthcare, and retail helped shape the platform to address today's most urgent threats — especially AI misuse, deception attacks, and insider risk.
Maro’s browser-level technology detects and stops actions such as clickjacking, typosquatting, and AI-fueled adversarial behavior in real time. The platform also embeds governance, risk, and compliance into everyday workflows — turning static rules into dynamic behavioral controls. With 60% of data breaches involving human error (according to Verizon's 2025 DBIR), Maro offers measurable improvements like 52% better CIS coverage in just one week.
“When stress levels are high and attackers use that opportunity to manipulate your workforce into taking risky actions, Maro protects how people think, decide, and act,” said Jesse Downing, CEO and portfolio manager at Downing Capital Group. “Maro’s founding team has deep cybersecurity experience solving human-focused problems, working together across three companies, including several with successful exits.”