AvalonX Launches AI Security Testing for Small Firms

AvalonX has emerged from 18 months in stealth with an AI-powered penetration testing platform for small and midsize businesses. The Alpharetta, Georgia, startup’s Artemis platform combines autonomous testing agents with human security expertise. Ridown Capital has invested up to $10 million in the company. AvalonX says businesses can run a free initial test, while its continuous testing service is sold through a monthly subscription.

Continuous Security Testing

Smaller organizations often rely on periodic penetration tests while their systems, software, and threats change between assessments. Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report found ransomware in 88% of breaches involving small and midsize companies, compared with 39% at larger organizations.

“Large enterprises test constantly. They have red teams, consultants, and budgets to match. A 50-person accounting firm or a regional manufacturer faces the same threats as their enterprise counterparts with none of the concomitant resources to protect themselves. Most such organizations test once a year, if they can afford it, and attackers don't wait eleven months to strike,”

AI And Human Review

Artemis tests a company’s defenses in the way AvalonX says a malicious actor would, looking for ways in and determining how far an attacker could move once inside. It is powered by Aether, AvalonX’s proprietary 400-billion-parameter security AI, trained on nine years of real-world offensive-security data and backed by 60 billion dark-web records.

Businesses enter their domain, define the testing authorization, and receive results the same day. External testing requires no software installation, and findings map to SOC 2, ISO/IEC 27001, PCI DSS v4.0, and HIPAA.

Funding For Smaller Businesses

Ridown Capital, the investment firm of Onecom co-founders Aaron Brown and Darren Ridge, has invested up to $10 million in AvalonX. Onecom serves more than 65,000 small and midsize businesses.

“At Onecom we've spent two decades serving small and midsize businesses, more than 65,000 of them today, and we hear the same thing: they're targeted like enterprises but resourced like startups. AvalonX is built for them from the ground up. That's why we backed it.”

Available Now

AvalonX is led by Craig Goodwin, Ricardo Valdes, and Ben O’Nion, who bring more than 50 years of combined information security and technology experience to the company. The service is available now, with a free initial test available through its website.