More than 80% of companies were hacked last year, according to the company's own site. Most of them are small businesses that cannot afford a dedicated security team. Resistine, a Berlin-based startup, is betting that an AI assistant can close the gap. It is a classic wedge play: enterprise-grade threat detection, packaged for the SME budget.
Founder Petr Chmelar is not starting from zero. His career began as a researcher in the faculty where Large Language Models first emerged [Resistine.com/about, 2024]. He later founded and served as Chief Research Officer at GREYCORTEX, a network traffic analysis firm that has monitored NATO cyber defense exercises [GREYCORTEX, 2026]. The technology behind Resistine is described as leveraging open-source components developed collaboratively with EU and NATO organizations [Resistine.com/technology, 2024]. This is not a hobby project. It is a commercial pivot of tools built for some of the world's most sensitive networks.
The Product Wedge: XDR Without the Team
The core bet is on accessibility. Resistine sells its platform as Security-as-a-Service, combining AI-powered anomaly detection with a large language model interface that explains threats in plain language [Resistine.com/technology, 2024]. The promise is to deliver the capabilities of an extended detection and response (XDR) platform,monitoring for advanced persistent threats often from phishing,without requiring in-house experts to operate it. For a small retail chain or a regional manufacturer, the alternative is often nothing at all. Resistine's positioning aims directly at that vacuum.
Bootstrapping from Berlin
Resistine operates with notable opacity for a company claiming traction. No funding rounds, investors, or named customers are disclosed in the public record. Third-party estimates, however, paint a picture of a lean operation that may be finding its footing.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Estimated Annual Revenue | 1.112 M USD |
| Estimated Company Valuation | 3.6 M USD |
| Estimated Revenue per Employee | 86 K USD |
Business intelligence firm Prospeo estimates the company's annual revenue at $1.1 million, with a valuation of $3.6 million [Prospeo, 2024]. Headcount is pegged between 11 and 50 employees across sources [Prospeo, 2024] [ZoomInfo, 2026]. For a solo-founded venture launched in 2022, these figures, if accurate, suggest a bootstrap path that is generating revenue before seeking institutional capital. The absence of press or partnership announcements reinforces a heads-down, product-first approach.
The Counterfactual: Selling Security on Faith
The risks here are pronounced and familiar to any cybersecurity vendor. Selling to small and medium enterprises is a notorious grind, characterized by long sales cycles and intense price sensitivity. Resistine's entire model rests on a value proposition that is compelling but difficult to prove without public validation.
- The trust gap. Cybersecurity is sold on credibility and proven efficacy. The lack of named customer logos or third-party product reviews means Resistine is asking buyers to take a significant leap of faith on claims that are, so far, self-published.
- The feature race. The platform's described combination of open-source tools and an LLM wrapper is not proprietary. Larger, well-funded incumbents and a swarm of other AI-security startups are chasing the same automated SOC assistant vision.
- The solo founder scale. While Chmelar's technical pedigree is solid, scaling a go-to-market engine, building a sales team, and managing the operational grind of an SMB SaaS business is a different discipline. The public record shows no named commercial hires.
The company's next twelve months will be defined by its ability to convert its technical foundation into tangible, referenceable commercial proof. Can it transition from a promising prototype built on serious research to a business with documented market fit? The estimated $1.1 million in revenue is a start, but the real test is whether that figure can scale and, crucially, be verified by someone other than an estimation algorithm.
Sources
- [Resistine.com, 2024] Resistine Homepage | https://www.resistine.com/
- [Resistine.com/about, 2024] Resistine About Page | https://www.resistine.com/about
- [Resistine.com/technology, 2024] Resistine Technology Page | https://www.resistine.com/technology
- [Prospeo, 2024] Resistine Company Profile | https://prospeo.io/c/resistine
- [ZoomInfo, 2026] Resistine Employee Directory | https://www.zoominfo.com/pic/resistine-gmbh/1332925727
- [GREYCORTEX, 2026] GREYCORTEX Monitors NATO CCDCOE Cyber Defense Exercise | https://www.greycortex.com/blog/greycortex-monitors-nato-ccdcoe-cyber-defense-exercise
- [Crunchbase, 2026] Petr Chmelar Profile | https://www.crunchbase.com/person/petr-chmelar