Bug Bounty Switzerland, a Swiss pioneer in ethical hacking and intelligent security testing, has closed a CHF 12m Series A funding round co-led by Direttissima Growth Partners and Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG).
The round saw equal participation from both investors, with Direttissima, a European growth equity firm headquartered across Zurich and Munich, and DBAG, a publicly listed investor operating since 1985, each taking a minority stake as part of a capital increase. Direttissima partner Philipp Bolliger will join Bug Bounty Switzerland’s board of directors following the close. The founding team retains a majority shareholding and continues to guide the company’s strategic direction.
Proceeds from the financing will go towards international expansion, growing the team, and advancing the platform’s capabilities, specifically the shift from AI-assisted towards increasingly autonomous orchestration of security tests.
Established in 2020 and self-funded since its inception, Bug Bounty Switzerland traces its origins to Switzerland’s earliest bug bounty programmes, which date back to 2015. The company has remained profitable throughout and counts more than 50 enterprise clients, spanning financial institutions, critical infrastructure operators, global consumer brands, and public bodies including the Swiss National Cyber Security Center (NCSC).
The company offers continuous, outcome-based security testing through its Cyber Resilience Shield platform, which combines AI-driven orchestration, a vetted global community of over 16,000 ethical hackers, and offensive AI agents. The subscription-based service activates within 24 hours, requires no in-house specialists, and replaces fragmented point-in-time testing with a single continuous platform covering an organisation’s full attack surface.
Bug Bounty Switzerland chief executive and co-founder Sandro Nafzger said, “As AI reshapes cybersecurity, organizations need protection that’s continuous, intelligent, and simple to adopt. That’s what we’ve delivered to some of Europe’s most security-conscious institutions — and what we’re now bringing to customers worldwide. With the support of Direttissima and DBAG, we’re making intelligent security testing the new standard.”
Direttissima Growth Partners partner Philipp Bolliger said, “Bug Bounty Switzerland combines three things that rarely come together: a differentiated product built on years of proprietary know how and data, profitable execution from a bootstrapped start, and a market in which continuous security testing is shifting from best practice to baseline. The team has earned the right to redefine and lead this category.”
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