Gutsy rebrands as Minimus: Twistlock founders return with a new security play

A familiar team in the cybersecurity world is back with a new name and a new mission. Minimus, the rebranded startup formerly known as Gutsy, launched publicly this week, aiming to reshape how organizations tackle the persistent challenge of application vulnerabilities.

Founded in late 2022 by Ben Bernstein, Dima Stopel, and John Morello—the trio behind container security pioneer Twistlock, which was acquired by Palo Alto Networks for $410 million—the company raised a striking $51 million Seed round in October 2023 from YL Ventures and Mayfield.

Cybersecurity.

Rather than focusing on detecting and patching software vulnerabilities after they arise, Minimus takes a preventive approach: offering stripped-down, "minimal" container images and virtual machines built to avoid the vast majority of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) altogether. The startup claims its method can eliminate over 95% of vulnerabilities from software supply chains — an ambitious target in an industry where exposure management has historically been reactive and piecemeal.

The company's debut comes at a time of growing scrutiny on software supply chain security, as incidents like the SolarWinds breach and the Log4j vulnerability have exposed deep systemic weaknesses. CISOs and development teams alike are under pressure to secure sprawling systems while keeping up with the accelerating pace of software delivery, particularly in the AI era.

In an industry flooded with point solutions focused on scanning and triaging threats, Minimus is betting that simplifying the software foundation itself—starting at the level of containers and VMs—will offer a more sustainable path to security at scale. It remains to be seen how widely this "build secure from the start" model can be adopted, but early backing from investors with a track record in cybersecurity signals a serious bet on the idea.