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Minimus

Category: AI in Cybersecurity

Minimus provides secure, minimal container images and virtual machines that eliminate over 95% of software supply chain vulnerabilities, offering drop-in replacements for standard development artifacts. Minimus was founded in 2022. The company is led by Ben Bernstein. Based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Team size: 101-500. Total funding raised: $51M. Latest round: Seed. Key investors include YL Ventures, Mayfield.

Founded
2022
Headquarters
Tel Aviv, Israel
Team size
101-500
Total funding
$51M

Value proposition

Eliminates over 95% of software supply chain vulnerabilities by providing secure, minimal container images built from source with only essential code — replacing the reactive cycle of detection/triage/remediation with a preventive approach.

Products and solutions

Minimal hardened container images (nginx, python, argo-cd, rabbitmq, elasticsearch, postgres, cert-manager, etc.), Community Edition (free hardened images), Enterprise Edition (custom images, SLA-backed support, SSO, RBAC), FIPS/NIST/STIG/CIS compliant images, SBOM and provenance attestations, Helm charts, AI-ready agent tools for Claude, Codex, Cursor

Unique value

Drop-in replacement container images with ~0 CVEs, built from source, continuously updated, FedRAMP/NIST compliant, and 95% smaller than standard images — requiring only a single configuration change to deploy.

Target customer

Enterprise security teams, platform engineers, developers, and CISOs in finance, tech, healthcare, retail, and government sectors

Industries served

Finance, Technology, Healthcare, Retail, Government/Defense

Technology advantage

Founded by the team behind Twistlock (container security pioneer acquired for $410M by Palo Alto Networks); builds images from source with only essential components; integrates real-time threat intelligence (CISA KEV, EPSS); continuous daily rebuilds with 24h SLA for critical CVEs; FedRAMP-ready, NIST SP 800-190 compliant; SLSA Level 3 compliance

How they differentiate

Preventive rather than reactive approach — instead of detecting and patching vulnerabilities, Minimus eliminates them at the source by providing minimal, hardened container images. Founded by the same team that created Twistlock, giving them deep domain expertise in container security.

Main competitors

Chainguard, RapidFort, Aqua Security

Key partnerships

Orca Security (agentless cloud security integration), Edera (runtime isolation for critical infrastructure), Knox Systems (secure software delivery for US government), Camunda (hardened base images for Camunda 8)

Notable customers

Camunda

Major milestones

Founded Oct 2022 as Gutsy, Raised $51M seed round Oct 2023 (announced Apr 2025), Rebranded from Gutsy to Minimus Apr 2025, Launched at RSAC 2025, Camunda partnership for hardened base images Mar 2026, Launched Supply Chain Protection and minicli Jun 2026, Opened entire container image catalog for free Jun 2026

Market positioning

Early leader in preventive container security, positioned at the intersection of software supply chain security and DevSecOps, targeting enterprises that need to reduce CVE noise while maintaining development velocity.

Geographic focus

Global (HQ in Israel and US offices in New York, Baton Rouge, Portland)

About Ben Bernstein

Ex-CEO & Co-Founder of Twistlock (acquired by Palo Alto Networks for $410M); SVP Products & Engineering at Palo Alto Networks; Various roles at Microsoft

Latest news about Minimus

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